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I • 












A REAL CINDERELLA 


BOOKS BY NINA RHOADES 


MARION’S VACATION. Illustrated. 12mo. Cloth. $1.25 

DOROTHY BROWN. Illustrated. 12mo. Cloth. $1.50 

VICTORINE’S BOOK. Illustrated. 12mo. Cloth. $1.25 

THE GIRL FROM ARIZONA. Illustrated. 12mo. Cloth. 

Net $1.00; Postpaid $ 1 . 1 0 


FOR YOUNGER READERS 

“The Brick House Books” 

The sight of the brick house on the cover makes girl 
readers happy at once. — Indianapolis News. 

Illustrated. Large 12mo. Cloth. $1.00 each 

ONLY DOLLIE 

THE LITTLE GIRL NEXT DOOR 
WINIFRED’S NEIGHBORS 
THE CHILDREN ON THE TOP FLOOR 
HOW BARBARA KEPT HER PROMISE 
LITTLE MISS ROSAMOND 
PRISCILLA OF THE DOLL SHOP 
BRAVE LITTLE PEGGY 
THE OTHER SYLVIA 
MAISIE’S MERRY CHRISTMAS 
LITTLE QUEEN ESTHER 
MAKING MARY LIZZIE HAPPY 

LOTHROP. LEE & SHEPARD CO. 

BOSTON 



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She did not know that she was a Cinderella. — Page 11. 


A 

REAL CINDERELLA 


BY 

NINA RHOADES 

I \ 


ILLUSTRATED BY ELIZABETH WITHINQTOH 



BOSTON 

LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO. 



Published) August, 1915. 








•c 


Copyright, 1915, By Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co. 


All rights reserved 


A Real Cinderella 


IRorwoob lprc60 

BERWICK & SMITH CO. 

NORWOOD, MASS., 

U. S. A. 

AUG -5 1915 

©CI.A40J.979 

Lo /. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

I. 

Cinderella at Home . . . 

PAGE 

. II 

II. 

Music and Cream-Puffs . . 

• 32 

III. 

A Ticket to Fairy-land . 

. 64 

IV. 

The Coming of the Prince . 

• 77 

V. 

Gretel’s Sunday Out . . . 

. 94 

VI. 

A Transformed Cinderella . 

. no 

VIL 

Jerry and Geraldine . 

. 130 

VIII. 

Real Music ...... 


IX. 

The Law of Love .... 

. 161 

X. 

Learning by Experience . 

. 178 

XL 

What Was ‘‘In the Wind’’ 

. 197 

XII. 

Going to a Wedding . . 

. 210 

XIII. 

The Palace of Beauty . 

. 220 

XIV. 

After the Clock Struck Twelve 236 

XV. 

Alone in the Big City . 

. 247 

XVI. 

From Shadow to Sunshine . 

. 260 








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1 








A REAL CINDERELLA 


CHAPTER I 

CINDERELLA AT HOME 

S HE did not know that she was a Cinderella, 
as she knelt on the floor putting on Miss 
Ada Marsh’s satin slippers. She had 
never even thought of such a possibility, and if 
any one had mentioned it to her she would have 
opened her big brown eyes very wide, and felt 
inclined to regard the suggestion as a rather fool- 
ish joke. In her own humble opinion she was 
not a person of the very least importance, being 
only little Gretel Schiller, whom nobody seemed 
to care very much about, and who lived with Mrs. 
Marsh, because there didn’t seem to be any other 
place for her to live. It seemed to her quite nat- 
ural that she should make herself useful in the 
family, considering — as Mrs. Marsh frequently 
reminded her — that her half-brother, who lived 
in China, paid very inadequately for her support. 

II 


12 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


But this evening her heart was beating fast and 
she was regarding Miss Ada Marsh with more 
interest than usual for was not that young lady 
actually going to fairy-land? 

The slippers were small, and Miss Ada’s feet 
were large, so that the task of getting them on 
was a more difficult one than might have been at 
first supposed. 

Aren’t they — aren’t they just a little tight ? ” 
gasped Gretel, when several unsuccessful attempts 
had failed to produce the desired result. 

“ Not a bit,” responded Ada, with decision. 
** Just push the heel in more. There, that’s bet- 
ter. They do pinch a little, but that’s only be- 
cause they’re new. They’ll be perfectly com- 
fortable as soon as I’ve stretched them.” And 
Ada rose, and limped painfully across the room 
to the bureau. 

“There, I believe I’m reacfy now, except my 
gloves. You can button them for me, and then 
just run and see if Mamma needs any help. It’s 
ten minutes to eight, and they always begin those 
long German operas promptly.” 

“ Oh, you mustn’t be late. It would be ter- 
rible to miss any of it,” said Gretel, anxiously. 
She was drawing a long white kid glove up over 
Miss Marsh’s plump arm. 


CINDERELLA AT HOME 


13 


Ada shrugged her shoulders indifferently. 

‘‘ I shouldn’t mind missing a little,” she said. 

All the Wagner operas are so long and so heavy. 
I wish Mr. Pendleton had asked us to go to the 
theater instead. There’s the door-bell; it must 
be Mr. Pendleton. My goodness! these slippers 
do need stretching. I’m thankful the opera house 
is just across the street; do hurry and finish 
Mamma. That Dora is so stupid about hook- 
ing her up. We mustn’t keep Mr. Pendleton 
waiting.” 

Gretel hurried away wondering. It seemed 
very strange that any one could talk about going 
to fairy-land as Ada did, but then she was only 
eleven, and there were a great many things in 
the world that she did not understand. As she 
was crossing the narrow hall of the apartment 
to Mrs. Marsh’s room, Dora, the maid-of-all- 
work, opened the front door, and a young man 
in a dress-suit stepped in, and greeted the little 
girl good-naturedly. 

“ Good evening, little Miss Gretchen,” he said, 
with a smile. ‘‘ Are your cousins ready? Your 
name is Gretchen, isn’t it ? ” 

‘‘ My name is Margareta Schiller,” said Gretel, 
drawing herself up with the little air of dignity 
that always amused grown-up people. “ They 


14 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


call me Gretel, not Gretchen. Ada’s nearly 
ready, and I’m going to see if I can help Mrs. 
Marsh with the hooks; but they’re not my 
cousins.” 

Not your cousins, eh? Why, I thought — 
But Mr. Pendleton did not say what he thought, 
for at that moment Mrs. Marsh’s door opened, 
and that lady appeared, carrying her evening 
wrap over her arm. 

**Ah, Mr. Pendleton, just in time,” she said, 
smiling, and speaking in what Gretel always 
called her company voice.” Gretel, darling, 
run and tell Ada, Mr. Pendleton is here. We 
must not lose a moment; it would be too sad to 
miss that beautiful overture.” 

As Gretel turned away to do as she was told, 
Mr. Pendleton followed her rather curiously with 
his eyes. 

“ What a pretty child,” he remarked in a low 
voice to Mrs. Marsh. ‘‘ I supposed she was a 
relative of yours, but she says she is not.” 

‘‘ No, she is not a relative, but it was a most 
natural mistake for any one to make. It is 
rather complicated to explain. My dear husband 
was a cousin of Gretel’s mother’s first husband. 
She is an orphan, poor little girl, and her only 
relative — a half-brother — has been living in 


CINDERELLA AT HOME 


15 


Hong-Kong for several years. I give her a home, 
and Ada and I do all in our power to make her 
happy, but in our straitened circumstances it is 
scarcely possible for us to be as generous as we 
should like.” 

Mrs. Marsh sighed, and Mr. Pendleton looked 
sympathetic, and murmured something about be- 
ing sure the little girl had a very happy home, 
but just then Gretel reappeared, followed by Ada, 
who was still struggling with the last button of 
her glove. 

Good night, Gretel dear,” said Mrs. Marsh, 
sweetly, as she stepped into the elevator. “ Don’t 
sit up too long reading fairy stories, but go to 
bed early, like a good girl.” 

“ Ada wants me to sit up till she comes home,” 
began Gretel, but on receiving a warning glance 
from Miss Marsh, she grew suddenly pink and 
did not finish her sentence. 

Good night. Miss Margareta,” said Mr. 
Pendleton, pleasantly, as he followed the others 
into the elevator. ‘‘ Your time will come, too, 
some day, and we shall have you going to the 
opera before we know it.” 

Then the elevator door closed, and Gretel was 
left standing alone in the hall. But unlike the 
Cinderella of fairy-tale fame, she did not sit down 


i6 A REAL CINDERELLA 

among the ashes to cry. On the contrary, she 
smiled quite brightly, as she closed the door of 
the Marshes’ apartment, and hurried away to the 
parlor, the windows of which looked down on 
Broadway, and over at the great opera house 
just across the street. 

Gretel was still smiling when she pushed aside 
the window-curtains, and flattened her face 
against the pane. To watch the people going 
into fairy-land was one of her favorite amuse- 
ments. 

‘‘ I wonder whether I really ever shall go,” 
she said to herself a little wistfully. “I don’t 
quite see how I can, for of course nobody will 
ever take me, and it costs so much money to buy 
a ticket, even for the standing-up place. But, 
oh, if I should — it would be something to be 
happy about forever 1 ” 

It was very interesting to watch the long line 
of carriages and motor-cars depositing their oc- 
cupants at the doors of fairy-land. Gretel 
watched them eagerly, but for the first time a; 
little doubt had crept into her mind. 

‘‘ I used to think they must all be so happy,” 
she said, reflectively, “ but Ada didn’t seem to 
care much, and I don’t believe Mrs. Marsh did, 
either, though she pretended to. Father said a 


CINDERELLA AT HOME 


17 


person must have a soul to love music, and I 
don’t believe Mrs. Marsh or Ada have souls — 
or at least not the kind he meant.” 

Just then some one came into the room and 
turned up the light. It was Dora, the maid-of- 
all-work. For the first moment she did not see 
Gretel, who was hidden by the curtains of the 
window, and going over to the center table, she 
lifted the lid of a candy-box, and was just about 
to help herself to a caramel when she caught 
sight of the little girl, and flew back hastily, with 
a muttered ejaculation of annoyance. But Gretel 
was too much absorbed to notice what the maid 
was doing. 

“ Come and watch them go in, Dora,” she said, 
eagerly. ‘‘ There are more carriages and auto- 
mobiles than ever to-night, I think. That’s be- 
cause it’s * Lohengrin.’ Father loved ‘ Lohen- 
grin ’ best of all the operas ; he used to play it 
for me. I know the ‘ Swan Song,’ and * Elsa’s 
Dream ’ and the wedding march. I can play little 
bits of them myself. Did you ever go to fairy- 
land, Dora ? ” 

“ Fairy-land ! ” Dora repeated, laughing. 
‘‘What a funny question! Of course I didn’t. 
There isn’t any such place really; it’s just in 
stories.” 


i8 A REAL CINDERELLA 

“ I didn’t mean to call it that,” explained 
Gretel, blushing. ‘‘ I meant to say the opera. 
Father and I used to call it fairy-land because 
he loved it so, and I always call it that to myself. 
Father took me there once, and it was so beauti- 
ful. I’m sure the fairy-land they tell about in 
books couldn’t be any more beautiful. We sat 
away up in the top gallery, so it didn’t cost so 
very much. It was Father’s birthday, and he 
thought he would give us both a treat, but he 
was sorry afterwards, because a friend of his 
came the next day to ask to borrow some money, 
and he hadn’t any to give him. Father was so 
kind; he was always giving his money away to 
people. Mrs. Marsh says that was why there 
wasn’t any more money left for me when he 
died, but I’m glad he was like that ; all his friends 
loved him so much.” 

“Has your father been dead long?” Dora 
asked, with a glance at the child’s shabby black 
dress. 

“ He died a year ago this winter, just after 
Christmas. He was very ill on Christmas, but 
he would get up and light the Christmas tree. 
You see. Father was German, and in Germany 
every one has a Christmas tree. We always had 
one, even when there wasn’t much^o put on it. 


CINDERELLA AT HOME 


19 


I didn’t know how ill Father was, and I cried 
because he wouldn’t sit up and tell me stories. 
You see, we lived all alone in the studio, and 
there wasn’t anybody grown-up to take care of 
Father, and make him stay in bed when he was 
ill. But the day after Christmas he was so much 
worse that he couldn’t get out of bed at all and 
then Fritz Lipheim came and brought a doctor.” 

‘‘Who was Fritz Lipheim?” inquired Dora, 
who was beginning to be interested, and had 
seated herself comfortably on the sofa. 

“ He was a German, too,” said Gretel ; “ almost 
all Father’s friends were German. Fritz played 
the violin beautifully, but he wasn’t nearly as 
clever as Father.” 

“ What did your father do ? ” Dora wanted 
to know. 

Gretel’s eyes opened wide in astonishment. 

“ Why, don’t you know ? ” she demanded in- 
credulously. “ I thought everybody knew about 
Father. He was Hermann Schiller the great 
pianist. I don’t believe anybody in the world 
ever played the piano like Father. He used to 
play at concerts, and crowds of people came to 
hear him. He might have been rich, only all his 
friends were so poor he had to keep giving them 
money. Everybody loved him. My mother 


20 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


loved him so much that she gave up her beautiful 
home, and all the money her first husband had 
left her, just to marry him and take care of him. 
She wouldn’t let him give away all his money, 
but she died when I was only four, and after that 
there wasn’t any one to take care of Father but 
me. 

And what relation are you to Mrs. Marsh ? ” 
inquired Dora, who had been in the family only 
a few weeks. 

I’m not any relation at all to her. Mr. 
Marsh was a cousin of my mother’s first husband, 
Mr. Douane, but I never knew her till after 
my father died. You see, when the doctor told 
Father he was going to die, he was dreadfully 
worried, because he didn’t know what was going 
to become of me. He asked Fritz Lipheim to 
telegraph to my half-brother in China. My 
brother was very kind. He telegraphed back 
that Father wasn’t to worry, and afterwards he 
arranged with Mrs. Marsh to have me live with 
her. I have to be very grateful, Mrs. Marsh 
says, because if he hadn’t been willing to support 
me, I would have had to go to an orphan asylum. 
The Lipheims would have taken care of me, only 
they are very poor, and sometimes they don’t 
have enough money to pay the rent, so when 


CINDERELLA AT HOME 


21 


Mrs. Marsh came and said I was to live with 
her, they were very much relieved. That was the 
day after Father's funeral, and I was so very 
unhappy I didn’t care where I went.” 

‘‘And was Mrs. Marsh good to you?” Dora 
inquired rather skeptically. 

“ Oh, yes ; she and Ada were both very kind 
that day. Ada gave me chocolates, and Mrs. 
Marsh explained how good my brother was, and 
how fortunate it was that I didn’t have to go to 
an asylum.” 

“ I don’t think that was much,” remarked 
Dora. “ A nice sort of man your brother would 
have been if he had let you be sent to an asylum. 
Is he very poor ? ” 

“ Oh, no, he isn’t poor at all. When Mother 
married Father all the money her first husband 
had left her went to her son. I heard Mrs. 
Marsh tell a lady all about it. Then after 
Mother died my brother went to live with his 
grandfather in Virginia, and when his grand- 
father died he left him all his money, too. He 
is a great deal older than I ; he was fourteen when 
Mother married Father. He used to come to 
see us sometimes when I was little, and brought 
Father and me beautiful presents, but I don’t 
remember him very well, because he went to 


22 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


China when I was only six. But of course I’m 
very grateful to him.” 

“ Well, I can’t see anything to be so everlast- 
ingly grateful about,” objected Dora. “ But say, 
don’t you want to play me a tune? I love to 
hear you play.” 

Gretel sprang to her feet with sparkling eyes. 

“Do you really want to hear me play?” she 
demanded, incredulously. “ I didn’t suppose any- 
body cared about it. I’m afraid I’ve forgotten 
most of the things Father taught me, and Mrs. 
Marsh won’t let me touch the piano when she is 
at home. She says the noise makes her nervous.” 

“It’s too bad,” said Dora, S3mipathetically ; 
“ you do play so lovely, and if you had lessons, 
why, my goodness, you might get to be a great 
musician like your papa. I don’t suppose Mrs. 
Marsh would let you take lessons. If she would 
I know an awful nice young man who’s a real 
high-class music teacher. He plays the piano at 
a moving-picture theater, and he’s been giving 
my sister Lillie lessons. I don’t believe he’d 
charge very high.” 

Gretel’s face clouded for a moment, and she 
shook her head sadly. 

“ Mrs. Marsh won’t let me,” she said, with 
a sigh. “ She says my brother only sends a very 


CINDERELLA AT HOME 


23 


little money. That’s why I try to do things for 
Ada, to help pay my board.” 

Dora gave vent to her feelings by an indignant 
sniff. 

“ I suppose that’s why you don’t go to school,’^ 
she said. 

‘‘ Oh, no ; my brother sends the money for my 
education, but Mrs. Marsh didn’t happen to know 
of any good school, so her sister Miss Talcott, 
who used to teach in a school, said she would give 
me lessons every afternoon. I used to go to her 
apartment every day till January, but then a 
friend invited her to go to California, so I don’t 
have any lessons now. Miss Talcott is very nice 
and I liked having lessons with her, but she has 
a great many engagements and quite often she had 
to be out all the afternoon. I didn’t mind much, 
because she used to let me stay and play on her 
piano, and I loved that.” 

“ Well, come along and give us a tune now,” 
said Dora, good-naturedly, and Gretel from whose 
face the momentary cloud had vanished, left her 
seat in the window, and hastened to open the 
piano. 

It was true that Gretel had forgotten much of 
the music her father had taught her. It was 
more than a year since the musical education from 


24 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


which poor Hermann Schiller had hoped such 
great things, had come to a sudden standstill. 
But Gretel still played remarkably well for a child 
of her age, and as her fingers wandered lovingly 
over the keys of Mrs. Marsh’s rather cracked 
piano, a strange, rapt look came into her face, 
and for the moment everything else in the world 
was forgotten. Dora, secure in the knowledge 
that the family could not return for several hours, 
curled herself up comfortably on the parlor sofa. 
But Dora, though fond of music of a certain 
kind, was not quite up to Chopin and Mendels- 
sohn, and as Gretel played on and on, a sensation 
of comfortable drowsiness began to steal over her, 
and ere long her eyes had closed, and she was 
fast asleep. 

Serenely unconscious of this fact Gretel played 
on, now a bit of one half-forgotten melody, now 
another, and as she played she forgot her present 
surroundings — forgot that she was no longer 
the child pianist, to whom her father’s friends 
had listened with astonishment and pride — but 
only a poor little Cinderella left alone in her 
shabby black frock, while Mrs. Marsh and her 
daughter went to fairy-land. She seemed to see 
again the big, half-furnished studio, that had once 
been home, and Hermann Schiller and his German 


CINDERELLA AT HOME 


25 


friends, smoking their pipes as they listened to 
her playing, always ready with a burst of applause 
when her father called out in his kind cheery 
voice, ‘‘ Enough for to-night, Liebchen — time to 
give one of the others a turn.” It all seemed so 
real that for one moment she glanced up, half 
expecting to see the familiar scene, and the row 
of kindly, interested faces, but it was only Mrs. 
Marsh’s shabby little parlor, with Dora fast 
asleep on the sofa. Suddenly a great wave of 
homesickness swept over the little girl — the 
music stopped with a crash and dropping her face 
on the piano keys, Gretel began to cry. 

At the sudden pause in the music Dora opened 
her eyes, and sat up with a start. The next mo- 
ment she had sprung to her feet. 

“Whatever are you crying about?” she de- 
manded in astonishment. “ I thought you liked 
to play.” 

“I — I don’t know,” sobbed Gretel. “ I think 
it must be the music. I love it so, and — and I 
never hear any now. I’m forgetting everything 
Father taught m.e, and he would be so unhappy 
if he knew.” 

“ There, there, I wouldn’t cry about it if I was 
you,” soothed Dora, laying a kind hand on one of 
the child’s heaving shoulders. “ It’s too bad, and 


26 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


I’m real sorry for you, but maybe we can manage 
for you to hear some music if you’re so crazy 
about it. My sister Lillie has a lovely voice, and 
she’d be real glad to come and sing for you some 
time, I know. My little brother Peter plays the 
piano, too, though he’s never had a lesson in his 
life. Music just seems to come to him natural, 
and he makes up things as he goes along. 
Father’s going to try and get him into vaude- 
ville.” 

Gretel dried her eyes; she was beginning to 
be interested. 

“ I should love to hear him,” she said, ‘‘ and 
your sister, too. Do you think Mrs. Marsh would 
let me?” 

Dora looked a little doubtful. 

“ Well, I don’t know,” she admitted. She’s 
got awful fussy notions about girls having com- 
pany, even their own relations. But I’ll tell you 
what we might do. Mrs. Marsh and Miss Ada 
are both going out to dinner to-morrow night and 
I might get the kids to come round and play for 
you while they’re out. They’d be real proud to 
have the chance to show off.” 

“ It would be very pleasant indeed,” agreed 
Gretel, “only — only do you think we ought to 
have them if Mrs. Marsh objects?” 


CINDERELLA AT HOME 


27 


Dora reddened indignantly. 

‘‘If Mrs. Marsh wants to keep a decent girl, 
she's got to let her have a little liberty," she de- 
clared defiantly. “If anybody can show me 
where the harm is in my having my little sister 
and brother to spend the evening with me, I’d 
like to have them do it. Nobody’s going to do 
any harm, and a person’s got to have a little 
amusement once in a while. I’ve been in this 
house nearly six weeks, and not a living soul have 
I had to see me since I came.’’ 

“ I’m quite sure Father wouldn’t have minded,’’ 
said Gretel ; “ he always wanted people to be 
happy, but Mrs. Marsh isn’t the least like 
Father.’’ 

“ I should say she wasn’t. Why, what pleasure 
do you ever have yourself, you poor little thing? 
It’s nothing but run errands and wait on that 
lazy Miss Ada from morning till night. It makes 
me sick, that’s what it does. But you’re going to 
have a little fun this time, and don’t you forget 
it. I’m going right of! this minute to send a 
postal to Lillie, to tell her and Peter to come 
round here and play and sing to you to-morrow 
evening.’’ 

It was nearly midnight when Mrs. Marsh and 
her daughter reached home. Mrs. Marsh was 


28 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


tired and sleepy, and she was not speaking in 
her “ company voice ” as she let herself in with 
her latch key, and switched on the electric light. 

‘‘ Really, Ada, I am surprised at you. You 
might at least have let Mr. Pendleton think you 
enjoyed it.’’ 

I was bored to death, and I suppose I couldn’t 
help showing it,” returned her daughter, with a 
yawn. “ I never pretended to care for music, 
and I don’t see why he didn’t take us to the 
theater. There are half a dozen plays I’m dying 
to see. I hope that child hasn’t gone to bed, and 
forgotten my chocolate.” 

“ Really, Ada,” remonstrated her mother, ** you 
ought not to keep Gretel up so late. It isn’t good 
for her, and I expressly told her to go to bed 
early.” 

Nonsense ; it doesn’t hurt her a bit. Besides, 
she loves it. All children adore sitting up after 
they are supposed to be in bed.” 

Before Mrs. Marsh could say any more, a door 
at the back of the apartment opened, and a little 
figure appeared, carrying a cup of hot chocolate 
on a tray. Gretel’s cheeks were flushed, and her 
eyes were shining; she did not look in the least 
sleepy. 


CINDERELLA AT HOME 


29 


It’s all ready,” she announced cheerfully. ‘‘ I 
heard the man calling the carriages, so I knew 
‘ Lohengrin ’ was finished, and I went and made it 
right away. It’s nice and hot.” 

Ada gave a satisfied nod. 

‘‘ Take it to my room,” she said ; you can stay 
and brush my hair while I drink it.” 

“ She must do no such thing,” objected Mrs. 
Marsh, who was looking both worried and an- 
noyed. ‘‘ Gretel, didn’t you hear me tell you to 
go to bed early ? ” 

Gretel glanced from Mrs. Marsh to her daugh- 
ter, and her grave little face was troubled. 

‘‘ I know you did,” she said, slowly, “ but Ada 
told me to stay up and make the chocolate. I did 
go to sleep on the sofa after Dora went to bed, 
but I set the alarm-clock for half-past eleven, so 
as to be sure to wake in time. I’m sorry if it 
was wrong, Mrs. Marsh, but it’s very hard to 
know which I ought to mind, you or Ada.” 

Gretel had no intention of being impertinent; 
she was merely stating a puzzling fact, which she 
frequently found very troublesome. But Mrs. 
Marsh reddened angrily. 

“ That is not the proper way for a little girl to 
speak,” she began, but her daughter cut her short. 


30 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


‘‘ Oh, for pity’s sake, don’t begin a lecture at 
this time of night. Mamma. We are all much too 
tired to argue. Come with me, Gretel.” 

And Mrs. Marsh, who was a weak woman, 
and who was, moreover, considerably afraid of 
her tall, domineering daughter, made no further 
objections, but retired in silence to her own room. 

“ How did you enjoy yourself all the even- 
ing? ” Ada inquired, good-naturedly, as she sipped 
her chocolate, while Gretel brushed out her long 
hair. “ I hope you weren’t lonely.” 

‘‘ Oh, no,” said Gretel, cheerfully ; I had a 
very pleasant time. First I watched the people 
going into fairy — I mean the opera, and then 
Dora came and talked to me, and I played on the 
piano. Mrs. Marsh doesn’t mind my playing 
when she’s out. I ought to be very grateful to 
Mrs. Marsh, oughtn’t I?” 

Ada laughed. 

“You funny little thing,” she said; “I never 
heard a child ask such questions. I suppose you 
ought to be grateful to Mamma, but what made 
you think of it? ” 

“I — I don’t quite know,” faltered Gretel, 
blushing. “ I was only wondering about some- 
thing Dora said. Oughtn’t it to give people 
pleasure to be grateful?” 


CINDERELLA AT HOME 


31 


“Of course it ought, but Dora had better mind 
her own business, and not put ideas into your 
head. You mustn’t spend your time gossiping 
with her, Gretel; she’s nothing but an ignorant 
servant. There, I’ve finished my chocolate, and 
I don’t believe my hair needs much brushing to- 
night. Run off to bed; it really is terribly late 
for you to be up.” 

Gretel obeyed, but when she had bidden Ada 
good night, and was taking the empty cup back 
to the kitchen, she whispered softly to herself : 

“ I wonder what ‘ gossip ’ means ? I hope I 
don’t do it if it’s something not nice, but I do like 
Dora very much, and I’m very glad I’m going to 
know Lillie and Peter too.” 


CHAPTER II 

MUSIC AND CREAM-PUFFS 

G RETEL’S first sensation on waking the 
next morning was that something pleas- 
ant was going to happen. She could not 
remember for the first few moments just what it 
was to be, but then it all came back to her; her 
conversation with Dora; her crying fit over the 
piano, and Dora’s promise to bring her sister and 
brother to play and sing for her. She was con- 
scious of a little thrill of anticipation as she sprang 
out of bed and began putting on her stockings. 
She had lived with Mrs. Marsh for more than a. 
year, but this was the first time there had ever been 
a question of her having visitors of her very own. 
Mrs. Marsh and her daughter had plenty of visi- 
tors, of course, and some of them had been kind 
to the little girl, but that was quite a different 
thing from having people coming expressly to see 
her. In the old days at the studio they were 
always having visitors, and she had had almost 
more friends than she could count, but since her 
32 


MUSIC AND CREAM-PUFFS 


33 


father's death, all the old friends had seemed to 
fade away too. They never came to Mrs. 
Marsh's, not even kind Fritz Lipheim or his 
mother, with whom she had often stayed for 
weeks at a time while Hermann Schiller was 
away on a concert tour. Old Mrs. Lipheim had 
been very good to the child, and had taught her 
how to sew on her father's buttons and mend 
his socks. She was sure the Lipheims would 
have liked to come to see her if they had not 
feared Mrs. Marsh would object, but Mrs. Marsh 
had been so very stiff and unsociable on the day 
when she had come to take her away from the 
studio, and had not even suggested that Gretel 
should see Mrs. Lipheim again, although the little 
girl had clung to her old friend, crying as if 
her heart would break. Gretel was very grate- 
ful to Mrs. Marsh, but there were times when 
she could not help thinking how much pleasanter 
it would have been if her brother had arranged 
to have her live with the Lipheims instead of 
with his cousins. 

It was nearly eight o'clock, but Gretel's room 
was still very dark. Indeed, it was never very 
light at any hour of the day, for its only window 
opened on an air-shaft. It was a very small 
room, and before Gretel came had always been 


34 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


occupied by the maid-of-all-work, but the apart- 
ment was not large, and Mrs. Marsh had de- 
clared it to be the only room she could possibly 
spare, so the servant had been relegated to the 
maid's quarters at the top of the house. But 
small and dark as it was, Gretel loved her room. 
To begin with, it was the only place in the world 
that was all her own, and then it contained all 
her treasures. There was her father’s photo- 
graph in a gilt frame, that Fritz Lipheim had 
given her as a parting gift; and his old German 
Bible, out of which he used to read to her and 
show her pictures on Sunday afternoons. There 
was also her old rag doll, Jemima. She was too 
old to play with dolls, now, but it was still very 
comforting to cuddle Jemima in her arms at 
night, when she happened to be feeling particu- 
larly lonely, or when Mrs. Marsh or Ada had 
been unusually cross. Then there were her 
father’s letters tied together with a red ribbon. 
There were a good many of them, as there was 
one for every day that her father had ever been 
away from her. Some of the later ones were 
in German, for Hermann Schiller had taught his 
little daughter to read and write in his own lan- 
guage, and as he and his friends usually spoke 


MUSIC AND CREAM^PUFFS 


35 


in German when they were together, it was al- 
most as familiar to Gretel as English. But no- 
body ever spoke in German at the Marsh’s, and 
she sometimes feared she might grow to forget 
her father’s language, as she was forgetting the 
music he had taught her so carefully. Lastly, 
there were her books, not many, and all de- 
cidedly the worse for wear, but dearly loved, 
notwithstanding. There were Poems Every 
Child Should Know ” — Dickens, Child’s His- 
tory of England ” — a few old story-books, and 
— most cherished of all — Grimm’s and Ander- 
sen’s ‘‘ Fairy Tales,” which she had read over 
and over so many times that she almost knew 
them by heart. There was not much space for 
books in the little room, so they lived on the floor 
under the bed, and Jemima slept in the bottom 
bureau drawer with Gretel’s night-gowns and 
petticoats. But notwithstanding its many draw- 
backs, that little room was the pleasantest place 
Gretel knew in those days, and it was there that 
all her happiest hours were passed. 

Mrs. Marsh was alone at the breakfast table 
when Gretel entered the dining-room. She was 
reading the morning’s mail, and merely glanced 
up from a letter long enough to give the child an 


36 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


indifferent nod. But Gretel had been taught by 
her father that one should always wish people 
a good morning, so before taking her seat at the 
table, she remarked politely: 

Good morning, Mrs. Marsh ; I hope you had 
a good night.” 

Mrs. Marsh did not take the trouble to an- 
swer, but Gretel never omitted the little formula, 
‘‘ because,” as she told herself, Father told me 
always to say it, so it must be right.” She 
slipped quietly into her place, and began on the 
plate of oatmeal and glass of milk, which always 
formed her morning meal. 

She had not taken many spoonfuls, however, 
when Mrs. Marsh finished her letter, and began 
to pour her coffee. Dora, having placed the 
breakfast on the table, had gone away to attend 
to other household duties. Then Gretel, who 
was fond of talking, felt emboldened to make 
another attempt at conversation, unpromising as 
such an attempt might seem. 

“ It looks a little like rain, doesn’t it ? Do 
you think it will rain, Mrs. Marsh?” 

“ Fm sure I don’t know,” returned Mrs. Marsh 
absently. “ I wonder what is keeping Ada ? 
Just run and ask her how soon she will be ready, 
Gretel, before I pour her coffee.” 


MUSIC AND CREAM-PUFFS 


37 


Gretel promptly departed, returning in a few 
moments with the announcement that Ada was 
only just awake, and would like her breakfast 
in bed. 

‘‘ Then you had better take it right in to her 
before it gets cold,’’ Ada’s mother advised, and 
leaving her own breakfast to cool, Gretel pro- 
ceeded to prepare a tempting little tray to be 
carried to Miss Marsh’s bedside. 

But tempting as the meal looked, it did not 
satisfy the fastidious Ada. The toast was too 
hard, and the coffee had to be sent back for more 
cream. Couldn’t Gretel make her a few hot 
slices of toast, and boil a fresh egg, not more 
than three minutes?” Of course Gretel could 
and did, and by the time Ada was comfortably 
settled with her tray, Mrs. Marsh had finished 
her breakfast, and Gretel’s oatmeal was quite 
cold. She was taking the plate to the kitchen, 
to warm it, when Mrs. Marsh encountered her, 
and asked rather sharply : ‘‘ Where are you go- 

ing now ? ” 

‘‘ I’m going to warm my porridge,” Gretel ex- 
plained. 

Mrs. Marsh frowned. 

‘‘Nonsense,” she said sharply; “little girls 
shouldn’t be so fussy about their food. Sit down 


38 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


and eat your breakfast at once; you’ve dawdled 
over it quite long enough already.” 

I wasn’t dawdling,” began Gretel ; ‘‘ I was 
boiling an egg for Ada.” But Mrs. Marsh was 
already half out of the room, and did not hear, 
so, with a sigh of resignation, Gretel sat down 
to her cold breakfast. 

Mrs. Marsh went out to a meeting that morn- 
ing, but Ada said she had taken cold the night 
before, and declared her intention of staying in 
bed till luncheon time. 

“ If I got up I know I should be worse,” she 
told Gretel, ‘‘and then I might have to stay at 
home this evening.” 

“ You’d better be very careful,” said Gretel 
in a tone of sudden apprehension. “ You 
wouldn’t like to have to stay at home this even- 
ing, would you?” 

“ I should hate it,” Ada declared emphatically. 
“The Scotts always give such delicious dinners, 
and Ethel Scott has promised to put me next a 
most delightful man.” 

Gretel was conscious of a sensation of relief. 

“Would you like some hot lemonade?” she 
inquired eagerly. “ Mrs. Lipheim once gave me 
some hot lemonade when I had a cold, and it was 
very nice.” 


MUSIC AND CREAM-PUFFS 


39 


Ada said she did not care for lemonade, but 
added that if Gretel really wanted to make her- 
self useful, she might sew some buttons on her 
boots. 

So, in spite of the fact that there were no 
lessons to prepare, Gretel spent a busy morning, 
for after the buttons were sewed on, Ada sug- 
gested that the child might arrange her bureau 
drawers, which were ‘‘ in an awful jumble,’^ and 
that task took so long, that by the time it was 
finished Mrs. Marsh had returned from her meet- 
ing and it was nearly one o’clock. 

It had begun to rain soon after breakfast, and 
by noon had settled into a steady downpour. 
Mrs. Marsh came in wet and cross, and bewail- 
ing the fact that she would be obliged to go out 
again in the afternoon. 

“ I shouldn’t think of going under ordinal*}^ 
circumstances,” she declared, “but I really feel 
it is my duty to go to Mrs. Williams’ tea. I 
dare say ever so many people will stay away in 
this storm, but that isn’t my way of doing things. 
People always appreciate the friends who take 
the trouble to come to their teas in bad weather.” 

Gretel was a little afraid lest the storm should 
prevent Lillie and Peter from coming that even- 
ing, but Dora reassured her on that subject. 


40 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


'' They’ll come if it rains cats and dogs,” she 
maintained. “ They wouldn’t miss the chance 
of playing and singing for the world. And you 
won’t wonder when you hear Lillie,” she added, 
with sisterly pride. ‘‘ I declare, when she sings 
‘ Break the News to Mother,’ or ‘ Just Before 
the Battle,’ it just brings the tears into my eyes.” 

I don’t think I ever heard either of those 
songs,” said Gretel. Are they very beauti- 
ful?” To which Dora’s only reply was a con- 
fident, ‘‘ Just wait till you hear them.” 

Gretel was in her room reading ‘‘ Snow-White 
and the Seven Dwarfs ” for about the fiftieth 
time, when Ada’s voice once more summoned 
her hand-maiden to her side. She had risen in 
time for luncheon, and was now lying on the 
parlor sofa reading a novel, and she greeted 
Gretel with the smile that always meant she in- 
tended asking a particular favor. 

** Gretel dear,” she began sweetly, ‘‘ would you 
like to do something just awfully nice for me? ” 

Gretel looked pleased. When Ada spoke in 
that tone she almost loved her. 

I’ll do anything you want me to,” she said, 
promptly. 

Ada glanced rather uneasily out of the window, 
at the fast falling rain. 


MUSIC AND CREAM-PUFFS 


41 


Well/’ she said, you see, I’ve finished my 
book, and I haven’t an earthly thing to do this 
whole afternoon. If it were not for my cold I 
would just run round to the library for another 
book, but with this sore throat I really don’t 
quite dare. So I was wondering if you would 
mind going for me. It’s only four blocks, you 
know, and it wouldn’t take you any time.” 

I haven’t any waterproof, but I don’t believe 
the rain will hurt my dress,” said Gretel, with a 
dubious glance at the old black skirt, which cer- 
tainly did not look as though rain or anything 
else could do it much injury. 

Ada smiled sweetly. 

You are a dear obliging little girl,” she said. 

You can wear my waterproof, and if you bring 
me back a nice interesting book I’ll — I’ll give 
you a present.” 

'' How perfectly lovely ! ” cried Gretel, her 
eyes sparkling. I’ll be right back.” And she 
darted away to look for her rubbers and um- 
brella. 

When she returned some three minutes later, 
she found Ada hastily scribbling the titles of 
some books on a piece of paper. 

‘‘ Just ask for one of these,” she directed, hand- 
ing the paper to Gretel. ‘‘ Any one they happen 


42 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


to have in will do. Now run along like a good 
child, and hurry back as fast as you can.’’ 

Gretel gave a cheerful nod, slipped the paper 
in her pocket, and departed, quite forgetting the 
fact that Miss Marsh had not repeated her offer 
of lending her a raincoat. In less than twenty 
minutes she was back again, dripping but trium- 
phant. 

The very first book I asked for was in,” 
she announced. ‘‘Wasn’t it lucky? I’m afraid 
the cover is rather wet, it’s raining so very hard, 
but I kept it as dry as I could.” 

Ada looked very much pleased. 

“ You really ought to have taken my rain- 
coat,” she remarked, regretfully ; “ you look like 
a drowned rat. Go and dry yourself by the 
kitchen fire, and you needn’t mention to Mamma 
that you have been out.” 

Ada had already opened her novel, but Gretel 
still lingered. 

“Is it a nice interesting book?” she inquired 
rather timidly. 

Ada laughed good-naturedly. 

“ You sharp little thing,” she said ; “ you are 
not going to let me out of my bargain, are you? 

I’ve got your present right here; guess what it 

• — 

IS? 


MUSIC AND CREAM-PUFFS 


43 


I can’t guess,” said Gretel, her eyes beginning 
to sparkle once more. I haven’t had a present 
since Father died, except the dress you and Mrs. 
Marsh gave me for Christmas. Is it something 
to wear? ” 

No, it isn’t,” laughed Ada; it’s something 
to Spend.” And she held out to the astonished 
Gretel a bright ten-cent piece. 

If Gretel was disappointed she managed to 
conceal the fact quite satisfactorily, and having 
thanked Miss Marsh for her unusual generosity, 
she sped away to the kitchen, where she burst in 
upon Dora, who was peeling potatoes for din- 
ner. 

Dora,” began the little girl eagerly, ‘‘ I’ve 
got something very important to consult you 
about.” 

Well, you’d better get that wet skirt off be- 
fore you do anything else,” objected Dora. 
“ How that fat, lazy thing could send you out in 
this storm without a waterproof beats me.” 

Oh, she was very kind,” protested Gretel. 
‘‘ She thanked me so nicely, and she gave me ten 
cents for a present. That’s what I want to con- 
sult you about. You see whenever Father had 
company he always gave them something to eat. 
Sometimes he couldn’t afford to have much, but 


44 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


he said if it was only a cup of coffee it was bet- 
ter than nothing, for it showed you wanted to be 
hospitable. I can’t buy much with only ten 
cents, but I should like to have some little thing 
to offer Lillie and Peter this evening, and I 
thought perhaps you could tell me something 
they would like that wouldn’t cost more than 
that.” 

‘‘ Well, now, that’s real kind of you. I’m sure,” 
declared Dora. Not that the kids would ex- 
pect anything. They’re both crazy for ice-cream, 
but you couldn’t get enough for two for ten 
cents. I’ll tell you what you might get, though. 
Lillie just adores cream-puffs and she doesn’t get 
them often, they’re so expensive; five cents 
apiece. You could just get one for each of them 
for ten cents.” 

Gretel looked much relieved. 

‘‘That will be just the thing,” she said; “I 
hope Peter likes cream-puffs too.” 

Dora said she was sure he did, and with a 
promise to “ hurry right back,” Gretel once more 
fared forth into the storm; this time to call at 
the baker’s shop on the next ‘corner. 

Gretel’s heart was beating high with anticipa- 
tion as she assisted Ada with her toilet that even- 
ing. Her only cause for anxiety had been re- 


MUSIC AND CREAM-PUFFS 


45 


moved now that two fat cream-puffs had been de- 
posited in Dora’s charge, and she was all eager- 
ness to welcome the expected guests. Mrs. 
Marsh and her daughter did not leave for their 
dinner party until nearly eight, but Gretel had 
had an early tea in the kitchen. 

I hope you got thoroughly dry after your 
wetting this afternoon,” Ada remarked, with be- 
lated anxiety, as she drew on her gloves. 

‘‘Oh, yes,” said Gretel, cheerfully; “Dora 
made me sit by the kitchen fire till, my skirt was 
quite dry. There was a hole in one of my rub- 
bers, and a good deal of water got inside, but it 
didn’t do me any harm.” 

“ I’m sorry,” murmured Ada, absently. “ I 
think I have an extra pair I can lend you the 
next time you go out in the rain. I suppose you 
will amuse yourself drumming on the piano this 
evening as usual.” 

Gretel smiled, but did not answer, and just 
then Dora announced that the cab Mrs. Marsh 
had ordered was at the door, and the two ladies 
hurried away to their dinner party. 

“ Remember, Gretel, you are not to sit up late 
again to-night,” were Mrs. Marsh’s parting 
words. “ Little girls must go early to bed if 
they want to grow up well and strong.” She 


46 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


glanced rather anxiously at GreteFs pale thin 
little face as she spoke. It had begun to dawn 
upon her of late that the child was not looking 
particularly strong. 

Gretel promised that she would not sit up late, 
adding innocently that she did not suppose Ada 
would need any chocolate, as she was going to a 
dinner party, at which remark Mrs. Marsh 
frowned and looked annoyed. 

As soon as the closing of the elevator door 
assured Gretel that Mrs. Marsh and her daugh- 
ter were really gone, she flew off to the kitchen. 

“ Have they come ? she demanded breath- 
lessly. ‘‘ Ada took so long dressing I was dread- 
fully afraid they might get here before she was 
ready.'’ 

No, they haven't come yet," said Dora, glanc- 
ing up from the Evening World which she had 
borrowed from the elevator-boy, but they'll be 
here soon now. I told them not to come before 
eight." 

‘‘ You are sure they got your postal, aren’t 
you?" inquired Gretel, anxiously. 

Oh, they got that all right," responded Dora, 
with so much conviction that Gretel felt very 
much relieved. 

‘‘ I think," she said, gravely, “ that the best 


MUSIC AND CREAM^PUFFS 


47 


way will be to have the music first and the re- 
freshments afterwards. That’s the way Father 
always did. He said people never liked to play 
or sing right after eating.” 

“ Oh, you needn’t bother about that,” said 
Dora. “ Lillie’d sing just as good on a full 
stomach as on an empty one. She’s an awful 
eater, anyway, and so’s Peter. I never saw two 
kids that can stuff the way those two can. But, 
look here, hadn’t you better keep one of those 
cream puffs for yourself? You didn’t have very 
much in the way of supper.” 

Gretel shook her head resolutely. 

I wouldn’t eat one for the world,” she pro- 
tested. Mrs. Marsh says it isn’t good for 
people to eat too much, and Father and I were 
often rather hungry the day after he had had 
company to supper. We never minded, though, 
and Father said he would so much rather be 
hungry than not be hospitable. Oh, there’s the 
bell ! It must be Lillie and Peter.” 

It was Lillie and Peter. Dora went to open 
the door, and when she returned she was accom- 
panied by two guests; a girl of thirteen, in a 
green plaid dress, and wearing two long pig- 
tails hanging down her back, and a boy of eleven, 
with very red hair, and so many freckles, that 


48 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


Gretel regarded him with a kind of fascinated 
horror. She was sure he was the very plainest 
boy she had ever seen in her life. 

** Here they are/’ announced Dora, proudly, 
as she ushered in the visitors ; ‘‘ this is my sister 
Miss Lillie Grubb, and this is my brother Peter 
Grubb. Miss Gretel Schiller.” 

Both the visitors looked rather embarrassed, 
and Peter’s freckled face grew very red indeed, 
but Gretel, with native politeness, came forward 
and held out her hand. 

‘‘ I’m so glad you could both come,” she said 
in her sweet, cordial little voice ; it was very 
good of you. You can’t think how anxious I 
am to hear you play and sing. I haven’t heard 
any music in such a long time.” 

‘‘I’m sure we were very pleased to accept your 
invitation,” returned Lillie, in her most grown- 
up manner, and she shook Gretel’s hand very 
much as though it had been a pump-handle. 
Peter said nothing, but stuck both hands into 
his pockets, and grew redder than ever. 

“ Dora says you sing beautifully,” Gretel went 
on, “ and your brother plays. My father was 
a great pianist; perhaps you have heard of him; 
his name was Hermann Schiller.” 

“ N — no, I don’t think so,” Lillie admitted, 


MUSIC AND CREAM-PUFFS 


49 


reluctantly. ‘‘ IVe heard of Dan W. Quinn and 
George J. Gaskin, but they were both singers. 
Did your father play for the phonograph com- 
pany ? 

“ Oh, no, Father didn't care much for phono- 
graphs; he played in concerts and wrote beauti- 
ful music. Perhaps your brother plays some of 
his things.” 

Lillie looked very much surprised. 

** I thought everybody loved phonographs,” 
she said ; “ we have one that Father bought 
second-hand, and we keep it going all the time 
we're in the house. We've got some dandy 
records. Peter makes up most of his own pieces ; 
you see, he's never had a lesson in his life. 
Where's your piano?” 

“ In the parlor,” said Gretel. Take off your 
things, and we'll go right in. I'm so anxious 
to have the music begin.” 

She turned to Peter with a friendly smile, but 
that young man was absorbed in removing his 
rubbers, and did not respond. Lillie, however, 
appeared to be quite equal to the occasion, for 
she remarked politely : 

‘‘You must play for us, too; Dora says you 
play the piano something grand.” 

“ Oh, no, I don't,” protested Gretel, blushing. 


50 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


I used to play much better than I do now ; Tm 
afraid IVe forgotten a great deal. I shall be 
glad to play for you, though, if you would really 
like to have me.'’ And then, as the visitors had 
finished removing their out-door garments, she 
led the way to the parlor. 

The first object to attract Peter’s attention was 
the candy box on the parlor table, and he opened 
his lips for the first time, and remarked in a 
rather high-pitched voice: 

Gee ! you’ve got something good in that box, 
I bet.” 

Gretel was very much embarrassed. 

“ I’m afraid we can’t have any of it,” she ex- 
plained. ‘‘ I’m very sorry, but you see, it doesn’t 
belong to me. A gentleman sent it to Miss 
Marsh, and I don’t believe she would like to 
have us touch it. We’re going to have some — 
some refreshments by and by.” 

Peter — who had already lifted the lid from 
the candy box — looked rather crestfallen, but 
Lillie again came to the front. 

“Never mind him,” she remarked, airily; 
“ Peter’s an awful greedy boy.” 

“ Shut up,” retorted her brother. “ I ain’t 
one bit greedier than you are.” 

Lillie flushed indignantly, but before she could 


MUSIC AND CREAM-PUFFS 


51 


reply, Dora — who had lingered behind to hang 
the children's wet raincoats up to dry — appeared 
upon the scene, and hastened to interpose. 

‘‘ Now stop fighting this minute, the two of 
you,’^ she commanded. “ You didn’t come here 
to fight. Sit right down at that piano, Lillie, 
and show Miss Gretel how you can sing.” 

Thus admonished, Lillie took her place on the 
piano stool, and the other three seated themselves 
in a solemn row on the sofa, 

“ What shall I begin with ? ” inquired Lillie. 
“I know such a lot of songs; I never have any 
idea what to sing first.” 

Sing ‘ Poppa, Tell Me Where is Momma,’ ” 
suggested Dora. That’s a beautiful song, and 
so touching; I know Miss Gretel will love it.” 

Peter muttered something about “that stuff 
being no good,” but nobody paid any attention 
to him, and after striking a few preliminary 
chords Lillie began to sing: 

“ ‘ Poppa, tell me where is Momma ? * 

Said a little child one day; 

‘Tell me why I cannot see her — 

Tell me why she went away.’” 

Gretel gave one little horrified gasp, and 
clasped her hands tightly. For the first moment 
she was so disappointed that she could scarcely 


52 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


keep back her rising tears. Was this the music 
to which she had been looking forward so eagerly 
all day? By a great effort she controlled the 
sudden desire to put her fingers in her ears, to 
shut out those dreadful, unharmonious sounds, 
but politeness soon overcame other feelings, and 
by the time Lillie had finished her song and 
turned from the piano for the expected applause, 
she was able to give a faint smile, and murmur 
something about “ it’s being very pretty.” 

“ Now sing * Hello, Central. Give Me 
Heaven ! ’ ” commanded Dora, who was looking 
both proud and triumphant, and without a sec- 
ond’s hesitation, Lillie plunged into another senti- 
mental ballad, if possible even more mournful 
than “Poppa, Tell Me Where is Momma!” 

The hour that followed was one of the most 
uncomfortable Gretel had ever spent. It seemed 
as if Lillie’s stock of songs was endless. The 
moment one came to an end her proud sister 
requested another, and the more she sang the 
more she appeared to be enjoying herself. Peter 
looked very much bored, but dared not express 
his feelings in Dora’s presence, and was forced 
to content himself with chewing a large piece 
of gum, which he had produced from his pocket 


MUSIC AND CREAM-PUFFS 


53 


and occasionally giving vent to his emotions by 
kicking the legs of the sofa viciously. Gretel 
was just beginning to wonder whether Lillie in- 
tended to go on for the rest of the evening, when 
a diversion was caused by a ring at the door bell, 
which caused a momentary excitement. 

‘‘ I’ll go and see who it is,” said Dora. Just 
keep still till I come back, Lillie. If it’s callers 
they mustn’t hear anything. They might tell 
Mrs. Marsh.” 

Dora hurried away, and profound silence 
reigned in the parlor during her absence. Peter 
stuck his tongue out at Lillie, by way of giving 
vent to his long pent-up rage, but she was so much 
absorbed in trying to recall the third verse of 
Just as the Sun Went Down,” to notice him. In 
a few moments Dora returned. 

It’s all right,” she announced cheerfully; “ it 
was only a girl I know, who lives down on the 
second floor. She wants me to go to her room 
for a minute to fit a waist on her. I won’t be 
long, and mind you behave yourselves while I’m 
gone.” 

“Of course we’ll behave,” protested Lillie, in- 
dignantly ; “ what do you think we are, any- 
way ? ” 


54 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


Oh, you’re all right, I guess, but Vm not so 
sure about Peter. You’ll be a good boy, won’t 
you, Peter ? ” 

Yep,” promised Peter, and Dora departed, 
after repeating the assurance that she would not 
be long. 

No sooner had the outer door of the apartment 
closed behind Dora than her younger brother was 
on his feet. A look of daring and defiance had 
suddenly replaced the rather vacant expression 
of his countenance. In two rapid strides he 
reached the piano, and seized his sister firmly, but 
not gently, by one of her long braids. 

Come off of there,” he commanded in a tone 
of authority. ‘‘ Quit your squalling, and give 
somebody else a chance to show off.” 

‘‘ Leave me alone, Peter,” urged Lillie, coax- 
ingly; ‘‘ I haven’t finished yet. I’ve just remem- 
bered the third verse.” 

“ No, you don’t,” returned Peter, with decision. 
“You’ve sung seventeen songs already; now it’s 
my turn.” 

“Oh, do let Peter play for us,” put in Gretel, 
eagerly. “ Dora says he plays so well, and I do 
love the piano so much.” 

Lillie looked as if she would have liked to re- 
fuse, but she had been warned by her mother to 


MUSIC AND CREAM-PUFFS 


55 


remember her manners/' and, moreover the grip 
on her braid assured her that Peter meant busi- 
ness, so, with a sigh of resignation, she vacated 
her seat on the piano stool, remarking as she did 
so: 

“ Oh, all right, of course, if you want to hear 
him, but he really can’t play worth a cent.” 

‘‘Can’t I, though?” shouted Peter defiantly. 
“ Who says I can’t ? Ain’t Father trying to get 
me into vaudeville to do my stunts? Just listen, 
and I’ll show you the noise it makes when a 
driHiken man falls downstairs.” 

Gretel’s eyes were round with astonishment, 
but Lillie only shrugged her shoulders indiffer- 
ently, and walking over to the other side of the 
room, proceeded to make herself acquainted with 
the contents of Mrs. Marsh’s workbasket. Peter 
seated himself on the piano stool, struck a few 
thundering chords and began what was consid- 
ered by his family and friends his “ very best 
stunt.” 

What followed was so awful that Gretel could 
never think of it afterwards without a shudder. 
She bore it in silence for fully five minutes, while 
Peter endeavored to represent the different sounds 
supposed to be made by the unfortunate drunken 
man in his efforts to escape from a saloon, until 


56 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


the final catastrophe, when, having reached the top 
of a flight of stairs, he, in Peter’s own words, 
took a header,” and plunged headlong from top 
to bottom. This Peter represented by a rapidly 
running scale from one end of the piano to the 
other, ending with a terrific crash, which brought 
Gretel to her feet with a cry of horror. 

‘‘ Stop, oh, please, please stop,” she implored, 
seizing Peter’s uplifted arm just as it was about 
to descend upon the keys with another deafening 
crash ; ‘‘ it’s — it’s so dreadful ! ” 

Peter’s arm dropped to his side, and he regarded 
his little hostess in amazement. 

‘‘You — you don’t like it? ” he stammered in- 
credulously. 

“ No, oh, no,” gasped Gretel. “ Please don’t 
do it again; I’m afraid you’ll break the piano.” 

Peter was offended. Never before had his 
“ very best stunt ” been received in such a man- 
ner. 

“ I won’t play any more,” he said, sulkily. 
“ I don’t know what you want, anyway.” 

“ I told her she wouldn’t like it,” scoffed Lillie. 
“ She likes real music, the same as I do. You’d bet- 
ter let me finish ‘ Just as the Sun Went Down.’ ” 

But Peter had no intention of yielding the 
point so easily. 


MUSIC AND CREAM-PUFFS 57 

You’ve sung enough,” he maintained dog- 
gedly. “ It’s her turn to play now ; let’s see what 
she can do.” 

‘‘ I’m afraid you wouldn’t care about my 
music,” said Gretel, blushing. Don’t you think 
perhaps it would be a good idea to have the re- 
freshments now ? ” 

‘‘All right,” said Peter, his face brightening. 

Lillie said nothing, but cast more than one re- 
gretful glance in the direction of the piano as 
Gretel led the way to the dining-room. 

“ Now, will you please sit here while I get 
things ready ? ” said Gretel, drawing up two 
chairs to the dining table. She was feeling de- 
cidedly relieved at having gotten her visitors 
safely away from the piano. 

“ What have you got ? ” demanded Peter, the 
last vestige of whose shyness had melted away 
the moment his sister Dora left the room. 

“Something very nice,” said Gretel, smiling; 
“at least I hope you’ll think them nice. Dora 
said Lillie was very fond of them.” 

Both visitors looked interested. Lillie seated 
herself at the table, and folded her hands primly 
in her lap. But Peter was not so easily satisfied. 

“ Let’s go and see what it is,” he proposed to 
his sister, as Gretel left the room. 


58 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


‘‘Of course not,” said Lillie, indignantly. 
“ Ain’t we company ? Company never goes into 
the kitchen in places like this.” 

“ Bosh ! ” retorted Peter. “ She ain’t nothing 
but a kid, like us. I’m going, anyway.” 

And, deaf to his sister’s expostulations, he fol- 
lowed Gretel into the kitchen. 

Having secured the precious cream puffs from 
the ice chest, and placed them on a plate covered 
with a napkin, Gretel was in the act of procuring 
another plate and a couple of forks, when, star- 
tled by a slight sound behind her, she turned to 
find Peter once more at her elbow. 

“ I say ! ” exclaimed that youth in a tone of 
rapture, “it’s cream-puffs, the best ever; but 
ain’t there more than two ? ” 

“ No,” said Gretel, regretfully, “I — I couldn’t 
manage to get but two, but I thought it would 
be all right. They’re quite large, and you can 
each have one. I don’t care about any myself.” 

Peter regarded the two fat cream-puffs with 
longing eyes. 

“ That pig, Lill, would grab ’em both if she 
got her hands on ’em,” he remarked reflectively. 
“ I’ll tell you what we’ll do ; we’ll eat ’em up here, 
and she won’t know. She’s got such grand man- 
ners she won’t come into the kitchen.” 


MUSIC AND CREAM-PUFFS 59 

‘‘ Oh, no, that wouldn’t be at all nice,” pro- 
tested Gretel, half laughing in spite of her horror 
at Peter’s suggestion. “ You can each have one; 
I truly don’t want any myself.” 

But the demon of mischief had entered into 
Peter Grubb. Before Gretel had the least idea 
of his intention, he had sprung forward, snatched 
both cream-puffs from the plate, and was brand- 
ishing one in each hand. 

Catch me if you can,” he shouted, and the 
next moment he had darted out of the kitchen, 
and was running at full speed down the long 
entry. 

Attracted by the sound of triumph in her 
brother’s voice, Lillie forgot manners and every- 
thing else, sprang from her seat, and rushed out 
into the hall. 

What’s he up to ? ” she demanded breath- 
lessly. 

He’s taken the cream-puffs and run off with 
them,” explained Gretel, almost in tears at such 
an exhibition of rudeness as she had never before 
known. She was still carrying the empty plate, in 
the vain hope of reclaiming ‘‘ the refreshments.” 

‘‘Cream-puffs!” shrieked Lillie; “my fa-vo- 
rites ! ” And she rushed off in pursuit of Peter, 
who had taken refuge in Mrs. Marsh’s bedroom. 


6o 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


and was already cramming a cream-puff into his 
mouth, with lightning speed. 

Then followed a scene the like of which had 
never before taken place in Mrs. Marsh’s well- 
ordered apartment. In the scrimmage rugs were 
rolled up, chairs overturned, and portieres and 
curtains roughly torn aside. Lillie’s temper was 
up, and she fought for her rights like a true little 
street Arab she was. She was two years older 
than her brother, and considerably stronger, but 
Peter was as agile as a monkey, and moreover, 
he had the advantage of having been the first to 
secure the prey. In the first moment of the fight 
Gretel had made a futile effort to separate the 
combatants, but it was quite useless and she could 
do nothing but stand idly by, wringing her hands 
in helpless despair. 

You’ll hurt each other ; oh, you will. I’m 
sure ! ” she wailed, as Lillie, having at last cap- 
tured her brother, fell upon him, and began pom- 
meling him furiously, while children and cream- 
puffs rolled over and over on the floor in a con- 
fused heap. 

There was so much noise that nobody heard 
the opening of the outer door, and it was only 
when Dora, with a howl of rage, swept down 







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MUSIC AND CREAM-PU^FS 


6i 


upon the combatants, that her younger sister and 
brother were even aware of her presence. 

‘‘You two little limbs of Satan!’' cried the 
irate elder sister ; “ is this the way you behave 
when I leave you alone for ten minutes? 
up off that floor this instant. Mercy sakes alive, 
what a mess! How in the world am I ever to 
get it cleaned up before Mrs. Marsh comes 
home?” 

How indeed? For even as Dora spoke a key 
was being turned in the front door, and in an- 
other moment it had opened and closed again. 
Gretel, being nearest the door, was the first to 
note the danger, and with a desperate effort to 
save the situation, she sprang forward to meet 
Mrs. Marsh and her daughter. 

“ We — we didn’t expect you home so early,” 
she faltered. “ I hope you won’t mind very 
much, but — ” 

“ I had a bad headache and excused myself as 
soon as we left the dinner table,” interrupted Mrs. 
Marsh. “ How is it that you are not in bed? I 
thought I told you to go to bed early.” 

“ I’m very sorry,” began Gretel, but got no 
further, for at that moment Mrs. Marsh caught 
sight of something else — something so astound- 


63 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


ing as to drive every other thought from her 
mind. 

What does this mean ? Who are these 
people? ” she demanded in a voice of such awful 
sternness that even Peter quailed. He and Lillie 
had scrambled to their feet, their faces and gar- 
ments thickly plastered with the contents of the 
luckless cream-puffs. 

Oh, Mrs. Marsh, please don’t be angry,” 
pleaded the trembling Gretel. “ They’re only 
Lillie and Peter, Dora’s sister and brother, and 
they came to play and sing for me. I bought 
some cream-puffs for refreshments, and — ” 

“ That’s enough. I have heard all that is nec- 
essary. Dora, send those children home at once, 
and then come back here and clear up this dis- 
gusting mess. You know my rules about visi- 
tors, but I will say no more to you until the 
morning. Go to your room at once, Gretel, and 
don’t let me hear another word from you to- 
night.” 

But, Mrs. Marsh, please don’t blame Dora ; 
it was all my fault. She only asked them to 
come for my sake, because I said I was so fond 
of music.” Gretel clasped her hands imploringly, 
and the tears were streaming down her cheeks, 
but Mrs. Marsh was obdurate. 


MUSIC AND CREAM-PUFFS 63 

‘‘ Not another word/’ she commanded, waving 
her hand majestically in the direction of Gretel’s 
room. My head is aching frightfully, and I 
must go to bed at once, but in the morning I 
shall have more to say on this subject. As for 
Dora, she knows my rules, and what she has to 
expect. I believe her month will be up the end 
of this week.” 


CHAPTER III 


A TICKET TO FAIRY-LAND 

WANT to have a little talk with you, 
I Gretel/’ 

JL Gretel looked up with a start from the 
pile of stockings she was darning. Mrs. Marsh, 
solemn and majestic as usual, was blocking the 
doorway of her little room, and there was an 
ominous sound in her voice which caused Gretel’s 
heart to beat uncomfortably fast. 

‘‘ Won’t you come in ? ” she said, timidly, ris- 
ing to offer her visitor the only chair the room 
contained, but Mrs. Marsh waved her back im- 
patiently. 

** Go on with your work,” she commanded. 

I don’t care to sit down ; I can say all I have 
to say in a few words. I am very sorry to be 
obliged to find fault with you, Gretel, but I feel 
that I must speak to you about your behavior of 
the past two weeks. Ada has spoken of it sev- 
eral times, but I have postponed mentioning it to 
you, hoping things might improve. You have 
64 


A TICKET TO FAIRY-LAND 65 

not been at all like yourself since the night those 
disgusting children were here/' 

Mrs. Marsh paused, as if expecting Gretel to 
speak. The little girl had grown very red, and 
her lip was trembling, but she said nothing, and 
after waiting a moment Mrs. Marsh went on. 

‘‘It is rather difficult to fix upon any one par- 
ticular thing you have done, but your whole man- 
ner has been different. You have not looked 
happy; indeed, you have appeared quite sullen at 
times. Now sullenness is a very disagreeable 
trait in a child. When your brother placed you 
in my care, he expected me to take a mother's 
place to you, and so, painful though it may be, I 
feel that it is my duty to reprove you for your 
faults." 

Mrs. Marsh paused again, and this time Gretel 
raised her big honest brown eyes to her face ; they 
were full of tears. 

“ I'm sorry," she said simply; “ I didn't mean 
to be sullen, but you see, I haven't been very 
happy since Dora went away." 

“ Not been happy? " repeated Mrs. Marsh, her 
voice rising in astonishment ; “ and why have you 
not been happy, pray ? " 

“ I don't know exactly," said Gretel, “ but Dora 
was very kind to me, and I liked her. She 


66 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


wouldn’t have let Lillie and Peter come if I hadn’t 
said I loved music, and so it was partly my fault 
that she had to go away.” 

‘‘If that is all that is troubling you you may 
dismiss the matter from your mind at once,” said 
Mrs. Marsh, decidedly. “ The girl was very 
careless and incompetent, and I should probably 
have dismissed her at any rate. As for the mis- 
chief caused by those dreadful children, that cer- 
tainly was partly your fault. You had no busi- 
ness to bring food into the house without my 
permission, but I forgave you for that when you 
assured me you were sorry. I never bear malice, 
and even though my carpet is practically ruined, 
I did not intend to refer to the matter again. It 
is your sullen, disagreeable manner that has 
pained me so deeply.” 

Two big tears splashed down Gretel’s cheeks, 
and dropped on the stocking she was darning. 

“ I’m very sorry,” she murmured tremulously; 
“ I don’t want to pain anybody.” 

Mrs. Marsh’s face softened a little. 

“ I don’t suppose you do,” she admitted. 
“You are generally a very well-behaved child, I 
will say that for you, Gretel. You have been 
much less trouble than I expected you to be when 
I consented to take charge of you.” 


A TICKET TO FAIRY^LAND 


67 


“ Have I really ? inquired Gretel, her face 
brightening ; ‘‘ but what made you take me when 
you thought I was going to be so much trouble ? 

Mrs. Marsh frowned. 

You talk too much, Gretel,’’ she said reprov- 
ingly ; little girls should not ask so many ques- 
tions. I have always tried to do what I have 
felt to be my duty. Now I hope I have said 
all that is necessary on this subject. If I see an 
improvement in your manner I shall know that 
my little talk has not been in vain. Ada and I 
like to see happy faces about us, and I am sure 
that if any child in this world should be happy 
you should. I wonder how many little girls of 
your age are having a lovely long holiday right 
in the middle of the school year? By the way, 
I had a letter from my sister this morning, in 
which she tells me that her friend has decided to 
remain in California longer than she at first ex- 
pected. They will not be back before the middle 
of April.” 

Gretel did not look as much pleased at this 
news as Mrs. Marsh evidently expected. 

I’m rather sorry,” she said. ‘‘ I like Miss 
Talcott, and she was so very kind about letting 
me play on her piano. I don’t mind lessons 
much; I used to love them when Father taught 


68 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


me. But I will try not to be sullen, Mrs. Marsh ; 
I really didn’t know I was.” 

‘‘ That is right,” said Mrs. Marsh, in a tone 
of relief. “ Now we have discussed this matter 
quite enough, and I must hurry. Are you going 
out this afternoon? ” 

‘‘Ada wants me to take her new dress back 
to the dressmaker’s. Something has to be done 
to the skirt, and she’s going to stop and try it on 
on her way home, but she doesn’t want to carry 
the box herself, it’s so heavy.” 

“Very well; the walk will do you good, but 
don’t stay out too long. It isn’t at all the proper 
thing for little girls to be in the streets after it 
begins to grow dark.” 

Gretel promised that she would be in the house 
before dark, and Mrs. Marsh departed, feeling 
that she had done all that was necessary in the 
way of “ administering a gentle reproof.” 

When she was alone Gretel sat quite still for 
several minutes; her hands lying idly in her lap. 
She was thinking hard. It was quite true that 
she had not been happy, but she had not supposed 
Mrs. Marsh or her daughter had noticed that 
fact. Dora was the first one of all the long list 
of maids who had come and gone during her 
residence with Mrs. Marsh who had ever taken 


A TICKET TO FAIRY-LAND 


69 


any particular interest in her. Dora was rough, 
and not very neat, but Gretel had liked her, and 
there did not seem to be many people to like, now 
that her father was dead, and all the old friends 
had gone out of her life. The colored woman 
who now filled Dora’s place was anything but 
prepossessing, and Ada had been suffering from 
a cold, which" always made her more cross and 
exacting than usual. She had not meant to be 
sullen. She had tried very hard to be grateful, 
as Mrs. Marsh had so often told her she ought 
to be. She really had no idea that Mrs. Marsh 
had cared whether she was happy or not. 

I wonder if she truly does care,” she reflected. 
** She doesn’t always say things that are quite 
true. It wasn’t true when she told Mr. Pendleton 
she would rather hear a symphony concert than 
go to the theater. She doesn’t really love music 
a bit, and I don’t believe she loves me, either, 
though she told that lady who was here the other 
day, that I was as dear to her as her own child. 
I don’t suppose anybody will ever love me very 
much now I haven’t got Father any more.” 

Suddenly, without quite knowing why she was 
doing it, Gretel found herself crying — crying 
so hard that the stockings rolled off her lap onto 
the floor, and she buried her face in her hands, 


70 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


and shook from head to foot with great chok- 
ing sobs. 

But the cry did her good, and being a plucky 
little soul, she soon cheered up again, dried her 
eyes, picked up the stockings, and went on with 
her darning. 

When the stockings were finished, and put 
away in Ada’s drawer, Gretel went to the window 
to look out. The sun was shining, but there was 
a fierce wind blowing, which rattled the window 
frames, and sent great clouds of dust into the 
faces of the passers-by. It did not look like a 
very pleasant afternoon for a walk. Gretel 
glanced over across the street at fairy-land, 
which was closed and deserted that afternoon, 
but there was nothing surprising about that fact, 
for it was only Friday, and fairy-land was seldom 
open on any afternoon but Saturday. But as 
Gretel glanced at the familiar building, her eye 
was caught by an announcement, which was 
posted up in large letters ‘‘ Saturday Matinee, 
2 P. M., Lohengrin.” 

Gretel caught her breath in a little gasp, and 
just then she saw two young girls come out of 
the opera house, and one of them paused on the 
steps to put an envelope into her purse. 

“ She’s been buying a ticket,” said the child 


A TICKET TO FAIRY-LAND 


71 


to herself. ** I wonder if it’s for ‘ Lohengrin.’ 
Oh, how very happy she must be ! ” 

But there was nothing to be gained by stand- 
ing there dreaming of impossibilities, and she 
must hurry if she intended to do Ada’s errand, 
and be at home again before dark. So she turned 
resolutely away from the window, and ten min- 
utes later was toiling up Broadway in the teeth 
of the fierce March wind, carrying the big box, 
containing Miss Marsh’s new dress. 

It was nearly a mile to the dressmaker’s, and 
the box was heavy for small weak arms to carry,, 
but no one had suggested her taking a car, and 
as her supply of ready money consisted of but 
three pennies, riding was out of the question. 
It was very cold, although it was the middle of 
March, and by the time Gretel reached her des- 
tination her teeth were chattering, and she was 
shivering from head to foot. 

Relieved of her burden, however, the walk 
home was more comfortable, and for the first few 
blocks she almost ran, to get her blood in circula- 
tion. Then she suddenly realized that she was 
very tired, and the poor little feet began to lag 
once more. 

“If it were only nice and warm I could sit 
down in Bryant Park, and watch the children 


72 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


play/’ she told herself, with a sigh. Oh, I 
shall be glad when summer comes, only then 
fairy-land will be all shut up, and I can’t watch 
the people going in any more.” 

Just then a fiercer gust than usual tore off her 
hat, and by the time she had caught it again, after 
an exciting chase of more than a block, she began 
to feel quite warm. Still, it was a relief when 
the sight of the big opera house assured her that 
she had almost reached home. There was only 
one more wide crossing, and then she would be 
safely indoors, away from the wind and dust. 

She paused on the curb, waiting for a momen- 
tary lull in the long stream of cars and auto- 
mobiles, and just at that moment something white 
came fluttering along the sidewalk, and rested 
at her feet. 

“ Why, it’s a letter,” said Gretel to herself, 
stooping to pick up the envelope ; ‘‘ somebody 
must have dropped it. No, it isn’t a letter 
either; it’s a ticket. Oh! ” Gretel gave one great 
gasp, and in another second she was darting 
across the street, clutching a white envelope 
tightly in her hand. 

Her heart was beating so fast when she en- 
tered the apartment house that she could scarcely 


A TICKET TO FAIRY-LAND 


73 


breathe. It was not until she had reached her 
own little room, unmolested and unquestioned, 
that she dared draw a long free breath. Then 
she sank down on the edge of the bed, and for 
the first time since that one hurried glance in the 
street, ventured to examine the contents of the 
soiled white envelope. 

There was not much in the envelope ; only one 
small, thin ticket, but if it had been a hundred- 
dollar bill Gretel could not have gazed upon it 
with greater awe. For it was nothing less than 
an admission to fairy-land. 

It’s for Saturday afternoon,” she said in a 
rapturous whisper ; it’s for ‘ Lohengrin ! ’ Oh, 
how wonderful, how wonderful ! ” 

In those first moments she had no other thought 
than that this wonderful thing had, by some un- 
known, wholly inexplicable chance, been sent to 
her. How it happened to be lying there on the 
sidewalk did not even occur to her. She kept 
repeating over to herself: It’s mine; it’s really 
mine; nobody can take it away from me! ” 

She sat for some time, gazing at her treasure, 
with loving eyes. Then she rose, and went to 
the bureau. 

“ I must put it away very carefully,” she said 


74 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


to herself. ‘‘No one must know anything about 
it. If Mrs. Marsh knew she might not let me 
keep it ; she might make me — ’’ 

Gretel’s hold on the precious ticket tightened 
imperceptibly, and she grew suddenly very pale. 

“ She might make me take it back to the opera 
house,” she finished, with a gasp. 

Then, all at once came another thought — a 
thought so dreadful that she actually began to 
tremble. 

“ Perhaps I ought to take it back,” she whis- 
pered. “ It may belong to some one ; some one 
may have dropped it. Oh, but I can’t — I can’t ! 
Nobody in the whole world can possibly want it 
as much as I do.” 

Just then she heard Mrs. Marsh’s voice in the 
hall, and hastily opening her bureau drawer, she 
thrust the envelope and its contents deep down 
among her handkerchiefs. 

Both Mrs. Marsh and her daughter regarded 
Gretel curiously when she appeared at the dinner- 
table that evening. The child’s cheeks were 
flushed, and there was such a feverish brightness 
in her eyes that Mrs. Marsh began to fear she 
was going to be ill. But when she questioned 
Gretel on the subject, the little girl assured her 
eagerly that she was quite well. 


A TICKET TO FAIRY-LAND 75 

You aren’t eating much dinner, at any rate,” 
remarked Ada, with a wondering glance at 
Gretel’s almost untouched plate. “ You ought 
to have a good appetite after your walk in the 
wind. What an awful afternoon it was. I was 
almost blown off my feet coming round the cor- 
ner by the opera house. Madame has promised 
to have my dress ready for me to wear to the 
wedding to-morrow. Mamma. Are you very 
tired, Gretel?” 

I’m not tired at all,” replied Gretel, in a 
rather dreamy, faraway voice. 

‘‘Little girls who cannot eat their dinners 
properly should not be allowed any dessert,” said 
Mrs. Marsh, severely. But Gretel only smiled, 
and when the dessert appeared she ate so little 
of it that Mrs. Marsh felt more uneasy than be- 
fore. 

“ You had better go to bed early, Gretel,” she 
advised, “ and I will give you a dose of medicine, 
for I am sure your stomach must be upset.” And 
when Gretel had retired obediently directly after 
dinner, Mrs. Marsh spoke with more severity 
than usual to her daughter, on the folly of send- 
ing the child on such a long walk in the wind. 

Gretel swallowed her medicine without a word 
of protest, and then, having locked her door 


76 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


against intruders, she once more drew her treas- 
ure from its hiding-place. 

“It is mine; it is; it is!’’ she told herself 
almost fiercely. “I found it. I don’t have to 
take it back. Perhaps the person who dropped 
it doesn’t care any more about ‘ Lohengrin ’ than 
Mrs. Marsh and Ada do. Anyway, nobody 
knows where it is now; nobody but me, and I 
want it — oh, I want it more than I ever wanted 
anything in my life before.” 

And then Gretel undressed very quickly, and 
crept into bed, with the ticket to fairy-land safely 
deposited under her pillow. 


CHAPTER IV 

THE COMING OF THE PRINCE 

I T was half -past one on Saturday afternoon. 
Mrs. Marsh and her daughter had gone out 
of town to attend the wedding of a friend, 
and Gretel knew they could not return much be- 
fore six o'clock. She had finished her solitary 
luncheon, for which she had little more appetite 
than for her dinner the previous evening, and was 
standing before the bureau in her little room, 
putting on her hat and jacket. Her heart was 
thumping in great excited bounds, and her eyes 
shone in a way which would have convinced 
Mrs. Marsh more firmly than ever, had she seen 
them, that the child was feverish. 

Ever since she awoke that morning Gretel had 
been fighting with her conscience. That ever 
persistent small voice " had been making itself 
heard very clearly, but with an almost desperate 
determination, the little girl had resolutely closed 
her inward ear." 


77 


78 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


I must go; I must; I must/' she kept repeat- 
ing over and over to herself. “If it wasn't 
‘ Lohengrin/ I would take it back, but Father 
loved * Lohengrin ' best of all. Oh, it can’t be 
so very wrong; I am sure it can’t.” 

And now the magic hour had actually come. 
All the morning she had watched the clock, and 
it had seemed to her that time had never dragged 
so before. She was sure it ought to have been 
at least twelve, when the hands of that tiresome 
clock would persist in pointing to only half-past 
ten. But at last it was really time to start. 

“ I’ll go very early,” she had decided. “ It 
will be so beautiful to just sit there and hear the 
instruments being tuned.” 

There was no necessity of making any ex- 
planation to the colored maid. She was a stupid, 
careless person, to whom Gretel and her affairs 
were of very little consequence, and would 
scarcely have noticed whether the child were in 
the house or out of it. 

Gretel’ s hand shook so that she could scarcely 
hold the precious ticket, as she stepped out of 
the apartment-house, and crossed the street to 
fairy-land. Early as it was the lobby of the 
opera house was already crowded, and there was 


THE COMING OF THE PRINCE 


79 


a long line of people waiting for tickets. Gre- 
tel pushed her way through the jostling throng, 
and presented her ticket. 

“ Balcony, three flights up,” said the man at 
the gate, hurriedly, and turned to the next comer. 
In another moment Gretel was climbing the long 
flight of stairs to the balcony. 

She was quite breathless when she reached her 
destination, and the usher who took her check, 
and showed her to her seat, regarded the little 
girl rather curiously. But there was no time to 
waste in asking questions, so he contented him- 
self with assuring Gretel good-naturedly that 
“ there was lots of time ; the opera didn’t begin 
till two.” 

It was all just as she had remembered it, and 
pictured it to herself again and again. The 
great house; the crowds of people, and the or- 
chestra tuning up their instruments. With a 
great sigh of unutterable relief, she sank back in 
her seat — for the first time in nearly twenty- 
four hours she felt safe. 

‘'I’m here; I’m really in fairy-land,” she 
whispered rapturously, “ and I’m going to hear 
‘ Lohengrin.’ ” 

Then the leader of the orchestra appeared, and 


8o 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


was greeted by a burst of applause, followed 
by a sudden stillness, and in another moment 
the overture had begun. For the next three 
hours Gretel was living in a wonderful, beautiful 
dream. It was even more beautiful than she had 
anticipated, and she drank in every note of the 
marvelous music as a person dying of thirst might 
drink water. During the intermissions she 
leaned back, with closed eyes, waiting in a kind 
of silent rapture for the curtain to rise again. 
As to what would happen when it was all over, 
and she would have to leave fairy-land and go 
back to Mrs. Marsh’s again, she never once 
thought of that. 

But everything, even in fairy-land, must come 
to an end at last. It was after five, and Lohen- 
grin” had sung his farewell, and sailed away 
in his mysterious swan boat, while the swan 
himself, miraculously transformed into the hero- 
ine’s long-lost brother, embraced his heart-broken 
sister. And then, amid a perfect storm of ap- 
plause, the curtain fell for the last time that 
afternoon ; Lohengrin ” was over. 

The performance had been an unusually fine 
one, and many of the audience had tears in their 
eyes as the curtain fell on that final scene, but 
to one little heart the last notes of the orchestra 


THE COMING OF THE PRINCE 


8i 


fell like the knell of doom. For several minutes 
Gretel remained in her seat, while the applause 
continued, and the singers came before the curtain 
again and again to bow their thanks. All about 
her people were putting on their wraps, but still 
she did not move. At last some one touched her 
on the arm. 

Please let me pass,’’ said a voice, and Gretel 
awoke from her dream to find the eyes of a 
plainly-dressed, elderly lady fixed upon her 
kindly. With a sudden start, she sprang to her 
feet. 

‘‘Is it really all over?” she inquired in the 
voice of a person suddenly awaking from a long 
sleep. 

“ Yes, it is really all over,” answered the lady, 
smiling. “You have enjoyed it, haven’t you? 
I have been watching you all the afternoon.” 

Gretel did not answer. It would not have been 
possible for her to have spoken just then, there 
was such a big lump in her throat, and the tears 
were so very near the surface. She turned away 
quickly, and the lady, thinking she was shy, paid 
no further attention to her. 

How bitterly cold it was. Gretel shook from 
head to foot as she stepped from the steam- 
heated building out into the windy street. But 


82 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


what was more surprising to Gretel than the sud- 
den change of atmosphere, was the fact that it 
was still broad daylight, and that the sun was 
shining almost as brightly as it had done when 
she entered fairy-land. She had so completely 
lost count of time that it had not occurred to her 
that the world would look just the same when 
she came back to it again. For the first moment 
she was almost dazed, and then, with a mighty 
effort, she pulled herself together, and hurried 
across the street. To be alone in her own room, 
that was her one desire just then. She must cry, 
and nobody must see her. After she had cried 
for a long time perhaps that dreadful choking 
feeling in her throat would go away, and she 
would be able to talk to people again. 

Nobody noticed the little girl as she slipped 
quietly into the apartment-house, but she did not 
take the elevator, fearing the boy — a friendly 
person, with whom she had often exchanged re- 
marks — might ask embarrassing questions. 
She preferred to climb the six long flights of 
stairs to the Marshs’ apartment on foot. Annie, 
the colored maid, opened the door in answer to 
her ring, but Annie was not fond of talking, and 
Gretel slipped past her, and gained her own room, 
without speaking or being spoken to. Once 


THE COMING OF THE PRINCE 


83 


there, with the door closed behind her, her first 
act was to fling herself face downward on the 
bed, and give way to the long-pent-up burst of 
tears. 

“ Oh, IVe been wicked ! I’ve been dreadfully 
wicked ! ” sobbed the poor little culprit, as wave 
after wave of remorse and shame swept over 
her. “ I took a ticket to fairy-land that didn’t 
belong to me. It was as bad as stealing. I 
ought to have taken it back to the box office; I 
knew I ought all the time, but I didn’t do it. 
Oh, I’m so ashamed — so dreadfully ashamed! ” 

How long she lay there she did not know, but 
gradually the storm subsided; the choking sen- 
sation in her throat relaxed, and she began to 
feel more like herself. But she was very un- 
happy; more unhappy than she had ever been in 
her life. Even when her father died it had not 
been like this. Then she had been only sad, not 
ashamed, and now she was so ashamed that she 
longed to creep away and hide somewhere, where 
nobody would ever be able to find her again. 

The sound which aroused her at last was the 
sudden opening of her door, and Annie’s voice 
saying — 

‘‘ The ladies has come home, and you’re wanted 
in the parlor.” 


84 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


It had not taken Annie long to discover that 
Gretel was not a person of any particular im- 
portance in the household, and she treated the 
child with as little consideration as possible. 
She did not even take the trouble to glance into 
the room as she delivered the message, but turned 
away at once, and went back to her work, while 
Gretel rose slowly to her feet, her poor little 
guilty heart sinking down, down like a lump of 
lead. 

“ They’ve found out,” was her first thought ; 
** somebody has told them, and now Fm going 
to be punished.” 

But somehow even this thought failed to 
frighten her much. She was so unhappy already 
that it didn’t seem to make any particular differ- 
ence what happened to her. She took off her 
hat and jacket, and even stopped to smooth her 
hair and bathe her swollen eyes. She was a 
proud child, and she did not want Mrs. Marsh 
and Ada to know that she had been crying. 

As Gretel crossed the hall to the parlor, she 
became aware of the fact that Mrs. and Miss 
Marsh were not alone. Mrs. Marsh was speak- 
ing in her “ company voice,” and Ada was gig- 
gling in the affected way she always did when 
young gentlemen came to call on her. As Gretel 


THE COMING OF THE PRINCE 


85 


neared the parlor door Mrs. Marsh was saying: 

“ This really is the most delightful surprise. 
,We had not the least idea you were in this 
country.” Then, catching sight of the little girl 
in the doorway, she added in her very sweetest 
tones — 

Ah, here she is. Come in, Gretel darling, 
and see if you can possibly guess who this is.” 

Gretel advanced slowly into the room, but she 
did not look at the visitor. Her heart was beat- 
ing very fast again, and her cheeks were crim- 
son; she was afraid to lift her eyes from the 
carpet. 

Then another voice spoke. 

“ Hello, Gretel,”' it said. “ Don’t you know 
me? Have you quite forgotten your big brother 
Percy ? ” 

With a great gasp, Gretel looked up to find 
a pair of kindly, merry blue eyes regarding her 
earnestly, while their owner, a young man, with 
a pleasant sunburnt face, held out his hand to 
her. For a moment she was so astonished that 
she stood quite still, staring at this sudden ap- 
parition, without even attempting to move or 
speak. 

‘‘ What is the matter, Gretel ? Why don’t you 
speak to your brother ? ” inquired Mrs. Marsh, 


86 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


reprovingly, and with another gasp of astonish- 
ment, Gretel came forward, and slipped a cold 
little hand into that of the sunburnt stranger. 

“How do you do?’’ she said, timidly. “I 
— I thought you were in China.” 

“ So I was until six weeks ago,” the young 
man answered, smiling. “ I only arrived in 
New York this morning. Aren’t you a little bit 
glad to see me?” And greatly to Gretel’s sur- 
prise, this tall, good-looking young gentleman, 
bent down and kissed her. 

“Yes, oh, yes,” she stammered; “I’m very 
glad to see you, only — only — ” And all at 
once, without having the least idea why, she sud- 
denly began to cry again. 

“ Don’t be a baby, Gretel,” remonstrated Ada, 
laughing. “If you act like this your brother 
will think you are sorry to see him instead of 
being glad.” 

But Mr. Douane did not seem in the least 
offended. He gave Gretel’s shoulder a friendly 
pat, and smiled such a kind, understanding smile, 
that the little girl’s heart went out to him as it 
had not done to any one since the happy days in 
the studio. 

The evening that followed was so wonderful 
that for the time Gretel almost forgot her trouble 


THE COMING OF THE PRINCE 


87 


in astonishment. Her brother did not talk very- 
much to her, but he made her sit beside him on 
the sofa, and all the time he was talking to Mrs. 
Marsh and Ada he kept casting kindly -glances 
at his little sister. She was almost too shy to 
answer when he did speak to her, but he seemed 
to understand when Mrs. Marsh reproved her 
for not telling her brother what a delightful sur- 
prise he had given her, for he interrupted that 
lady quite sharply, with the comforting assur- 
ance — 

‘‘ Oh, GreteVs all right. We understand each 
other, don’t we, little girl?” To which Gretel’s 
only answer was a rather tremulous smile. 

But all the time she was saying over and over 
to herself — 

‘‘ He’s the handsomest, splendidest young 
gentleman I’ve ever seen; I think he must look 
like the prince in Cinderella, and he’s really my 
own brother.” 

It really seemed almost too wonderful to be 
true. Hitherto she had only thought of this 
half-brother of hers as of some far-away bene- 
factor, who had sent Mrs. Marsh the money for 
her board and education, but who was not at all 
likely to trouble himself very much more about 
her. And now here he was, sitting in Mrs. 


88 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


Marsh’s parlor, apparently taking it as quite a 
natural state of affairs that he should have come 
all the way home from China, in less than six 
weeks, and suddenly dropped down in their 
midst. 

Mrs. Marsh insisted that the visitor should 
remain to dinner. 

‘‘ You really must, my dear boy,” she pro- 
tested, when Mr. Douane seemed inclined to plead 
a previous engagement. ‘‘ I never had the pleas- 
ure of knowing your father, but he was my 
dear husband’s favorite cousin, and best friend, 
and I feel it a great honor to welcome his son to 
my home.” 

Mrs. Marsh spoke with so much feeling that 
her voice trembled, and Gretel thought she must 
have loved Mr. Marsh very dearly, but then she 
remembered that she was never “ Gretel dar- 
ling ” except before company, and reflected that 
perhaps it was the same way about other people 
as well. She was ‘‘ Gretel darling ” and ‘‘ dear- 
est Gretel ” all that evening, and once when she 
was passing Mrs. Marsh, that lady suddenly put 
an arm round her, and gave her a kiss, which 
was such an unusual demonstration of affection 
that the little girl fairly gasped with astonish- 


THE COMING OF THE PRINCE 


89 


ment. Ada was not so affectionate, but she 
talked and laughed a great deal and seemed to 
like Mr. Douane very much indeed. She asked 
if she might call him Cousin Percy, and seemed 
so delighted to have him at home that Gretel was 
rather puzzled, for Ada had once told her that 
she had not seen Percy Douane since she was a 
little girl, and scarcely remembered him at all. 

But all these things made but a trifling im- 
pression on Gretel, for her whole attention was 
absorbed by her brother. The more she looked 
at him, the handsomer she thought him, and 
every time he spoke to her, her heart began to 
beat so fast that she could scarcely answer him. 

I am sorry to say Gretel is very shy,” Mrs. 
Marsh remarked to the visitor on one of these 
occasions. “We are doing all we can to give 
her more confidence in herself, but I am afraid 
the life with her father was rather bad for her. 
Her training was sadly neglected.” 

Gretel felt the hot, indignant color rush up 
into her cheeks, but she dared not contradict Mrs. 
Marsh. She ventured a timid glance at her 
brother, and the expression she saw in his eyes 
reassured her. 

“My stepfather may not have been a dis- 


90 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


ciplinarian,” he said, gravely, '' but he was one 
of the kindest and most generous men I have ever 
known.” 

I am sure it is very noble of you to speak so 
beautifully of him,” Mrs. Marsh murmured, and 
then the subject was changed. 

Mr. Douane was not a great talker, but all 
that he said was interesting. Ada asked a great 
many questions about life in China, and Mrs. 
Marsh appeared very anxious to find out why 
her cousin had’ come so unexpectedly. 

I dare say it is* only a flying visit,” she said, 
smiling, ‘‘ and that you will be off to the ends 
of the earth again before we have had time to 
realize we have had a glimpse of you.” 

‘‘ I am not so sure of that,” said Mr. Douane. 
‘‘ I may decide to settle down for a while. I had 
a bad attack of typhoid in the autumn, and since 
then I have had a sort of longing for my own 
country. A fellow begins to think about home 
and friends when he is too weak to turn over 
in bed without assistance.” 

‘‘ Poor boy,” cried Mrs. Marsh. “ I am glad 
I did not know of your illness; I should have 
been worried to death. But you have quite re- 
covered, I trust ? ” 


THE COMING OF THE PRINCE 


91 


Mr. Douane assured her that he had never 
been better in his life. 

‘‘ The voyage did wonders for me,” he said, 
‘‘but I was pretty fit even before I left Hong- 
Kong. Indeed, I doubt if I should have come 
home at all if some property of my grandfather’s 
in Virginia had not required looking after. 
Then I had a fancy to see this little sister of 
mine; it is more than five years since I saw her 
last.” 

“ You must find her very much changed,” re- 
marked Ada, to which Mr. Douane replied rather 
gravely — 

“ I do indeed.” 

Mr. Douane did not stay long after dinner. 
He had an appointment with a friend, he said, 
but before leaving he once more drew Gretel to 
his side and kissed her. 

“ Good-night, little woman,” he said kindly, 
“we shall meet again very soon.” And Gretel 
was so overwhelmed with astonishment and rap- 
ture, that she could not think of a single word to 
say in reply, and just stood staring after her 
brother, as he left the room, accompanied by 
Mrs. Marsh and Ada. 

She was still standing in the same spot when 


92 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


the two ladies returned after seeing their guest to 
the elevator. 

Really, Gretel, I am ashamed of you,’’ began 
Mrs. Marsh, and the little girl noticed that she 
did not say Gretel darling ” this time. “ I am 
sure I don’t know what your brother must have 
thought of your manners. You scarcely spoke 
to him the whole time he was here, and goodness 
knows you talk enough at other times.” 

I didn’t have much chance to speak,” faltered 
Gretel, anxious to vindicate herself. You and 
Ada were talking all the time, and you told me 
never to interrupt.” 

‘‘ You are a very impertinent little girl,” said 
Mrs. Marsh, severely. I was only anxious to 
have you appear well for your own sake. I am 
sure your brother must have been very much dis- 
appointed in you.” 

‘‘ Oh, do leave Gretel alone. Mamma,” put in 
Ada with a yawn. ‘‘ I don’t believe Percy cared 
whether she talked or not. How could a man 
of his age be expected to take any particular in- 
terest in a child like that, even if she is his half- 
sistel*?” 

But even this last remark failed to disturb 
Gretel very much. She was a humble little soul, 
and it had never even occurred to her as a pos- 


THE COMING OF THE PRINCE 


93 


sibility that her faraway, almost unknown 
brother, could care much about her. Indeed, she 
had not hitherto cared very much about him her- 
self, except to remember Mrs. Marsh’s oft re- 
peated injunction to be grateful to her brother, 
to whom she owed everything in the world. But 
now all that was changed, and he had suddenly 
become her hero, the very most interesting person 
in the whole world to her. 

‘‘ He kissed me twice,” she said to herself, 
with a little excited thrill, as she went away to 
her room, ‘‘ and he said we should meet soon 
again. Oh, I do wonder how soon it will be.” 

Then suddenly something that she had almost 
forgotten in the excitement of the past few hours 
flashed into her mind, and a look that was half 
shame and half fear came into her eyes. 

Oh,” she gasped, with a little irrepressible 
sob, ‘‘ he must never find out about ‘ Lohengrin.’ 
He would despise me, and if he knew, I think I 
should die of shame.” 


CHAPTER V 


GRETEL’s SUNDAY OUT 

I T was Sunday afternoon, and Gretel was at 
home alone. Mrs. Marsh had gone to 
church, and Ada was spending the after- 
noon with friends. It was the maid’s day out, 
and Mrs. Marsh had told Gretel that she intended 
calling on a friend after church, and if invited, 
might remain to supper. Ada did not expect to 
return until late in the evening. 

‘‘So if neither of us comes home, you can get 
your own supper and go to bed early,” the good 
lady had added. “ You are not afraid to stay 
by yourself, are you? ” 

“ Oh, no,” Gretel had answered cheerfully ; 
“ I don’t mind a bit. I’ll read, and — and — do 
you think that perhaps my brother might come 
again to-day, Mrs. Marsh?” 

“ I am sure he will not,” said Mrs. Marsh, with 
decision. “ He must have a good many friends 
in New York, and we cannot expect to see much 
of him. When he does come again, however, 
94 


GRETEUS SUNDAY OUT 


95 


I sincerely hope you will try to make a better 
impression than you did yesterday/' 

Gretel really did not mind being alone. She 
was not a timid child, and the life she had led 
with her father had made her unusually inde- 
pendent for her age. But when Mrs. Marsh had 
gone out this afternoon she did not as usual rush 
to the piano. Somehow she did not feel quite 
like playing to-day. Music reminded her of yes- 
terday, and it was not a comfortable recollection. 
So she went to her room in search of one of her 
precious books, and had just settled herself com- 
fortably with Little Women " when she was 
startled by the sound of the door-bell, and in 
spite of Mrs. Marsh’s assurances, her heart began 
to beat fast again. 

‘‘ Hello, Gretel ! anybody at home ? ” 

Yes, there he was, her tall handsome brother, 
looking down at her with his pleasant smile, and 
this time Gretel was not afraid to speak. 

Oh, I’m so sorry,” she said, regretfully, “ but 
Mrs. Marsh and Ada have both gone out. Mrs. 
Marsh said she was sure you wouldn’t come to- 
day; she thought you would have so many other 
friends to see.” 

She stood holding the door, expecting that the 
visitor would go at once, as people usually did 


96 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


when told the ladies were not at home, but to 
her surprise, he did not move. 

Aren’t you going to let me in ? ” he asked, 
smiling. 

Gretel was covered with confusion. 

“Yes, oh, yes, indeed,” she protested eagerly; 
“ I’d love to have you, but I didn’t think you’d 
want to come in when you knew everybody was 
out” 

“ How about you? Don’t you count yourself 
as anybody ? ” her brother inquired, with a laugh, 
as he stepped into the hall, and Gretel closed the 
door. 

Mr. Douane’s laugh was so pleasant that Gre- 
tel suddenly found herself laughing, too, though 
perhaps more from nervousness than enjoyment. 

“ I’m only a little girl,” she explained, “ and 
people never come to see me.” 

“ Well, I have come to see you, at any rate, 
and to tell the truth, I am very glad Mrs. Marsh 
and the fascinating Ada are out. Would you 
like to come with me for a motor-ride?” 

“ A motor-ride ? ” repeated Gretel, looking 
puzzled. “ Oh, you don’t mean to go to ride 
in an automobile! I should love it better than 
anything else in the world, but — but do you 
really think I could ? ” 


GRETEUS SUNDAY OUT 


97 


I don’t see anything to prevent. Do you like 
motoring? ” 

“ I have only been in an automobile once,” 
Crete! explained. Father was going to play at 
a gentleman’s house in New Rochelle, and the 
gentleman sent his car for him, and Father said 
I might go, too, and sit outside while he played. 
So I did, and we had a lovely ride, but it was 
rather cold waiting so long for Father. The car 
went so fast I was a little frightened at first, but 
I got used to it after a while, and then it was 
splendid. But I’m afraid Mrs. Marsh wouldn’t 
let me go. You see, the maid is out, too, and 
she doesn’t like to have the apartment left with 
nobody in it.” 

Some of the amusement faded from the visi- 
tor’s face; he even looked a little annoyed. 

‘‘ So they leave you alone to look after the 
house,” he said dryly. ‘‘Well, you are not to 
stay at home this time, whether Mrs. Marsh ob- 
jects or not. I have hired a car for the after- 
noon, and I want to take you out with me; it’s 
a glorious day. I am your guardian, so it is your 
duty to do as I say, and it’s quite time we began 
to get acquainted with each other. So run and 
get on your warmest things, and I will write 
a note explaining matters to Mrs. Marsh. The 


98 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


apartment will be safe enough; we’ll get the 
janitor to look after it” 

Although not feeling at all certain as to how 
Mrs. Marsh would regard such an unheard-of 
proceeding, Gretel stood far too much in awe of 
this big, decided young man to dare argue the 
point with him, so without another word, she 
turned to do his bidding. She was just leaving 
the room when her brother called her back. 

‘‘We may stop somewhere for dinner, and not 
get back until the evening,” he remarked cheer- 
fully, “ so you may as well put on something 
pretty.” He glanced rather disapprovingly as 
he spoke at Gretel’s shiny black frock, with the 
big darn in the middle of the skirt. 

Poor Gretel stopped short, and all the bright- 
ness of anticipation went out of her face. Her 
voice even shook a little when she spoke. 

“ I’m very sorry,” she faltered, blushing, “ but 
I’m really afraid I won’t be able to go. You 
see, I haven’t got any pretty things to put on, 
and I’m afraid you wouldn’t like to take me in 
this dress.” 

There was a moment’s pause while Mr. Douane 
regarded his little sister critically from top to 
toe. Then he gave vent to his feelings in a 


GRETEUS SUNDAY OUT 


99 


long, low whistle. Gretel’s cheeks were crimson, 
and she was fighting hard to keep back the rising 
tears. But when her brother spoke his voice 
was as kind as ever. 

‘‘ Well, never mind about the clothes,’’ he said; 
‘‘ you look very well just as you' are. How about 
a warm wrap, though ? Have you a fur coat ? ” 

Gretel was forced to admit that she had not, 
but she assured her brother that her winter 
jacket was very warm indeed, and, moreover, 
that she never felt cold. Mr. Douane smiled a 
rather peculiar smile, but made no further re- 
marks, and ten minutes later Gretel found her- 
self leaning back in a comfortable touring car, 
while her brother and the chauffeur wrapped a 
warm fur robe about her, tucking her in so snugly 
that she felt sure she could not possibly feel cold 
even if it should begin to snow. 

It was such a wonderful experience that it 
took Gretel some time to become accustomed to 
it. She scarcely spoke at all during the first 
half hour, but it was a beautiful afternoon, and 
under the combined effects of bright sunshine, 
crisp air, and delightful motion, the little girl’s 
spirits soon began to rise, and by the time they 
had crossed Seventy-second Street, and were 


V 


100 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


bowling up the beautiful Riverside Drive, she was 
chattering away to her companion as though she 
had known him all her life. 

“ I’m not a bit frightened this time,” she de- 
clared. ‘‘ This is something else for me to be 
grateful to you for, isn’t it?” 

‘‘ I don’t know about that,” said Mr. Douane, 
smiling down into the eager, radiant little face; 

why should you be particularly grateful to me 
for a motor-ride?” 

“ Why, because I must be grateful to you for 
everything,” said Gretel, innocently. “ Mrs. 
Marsh says I ought to be even more grateful to 
you than I am to her. She says if it wasn’t for 
the money you send I should have to go to an 
orphan asylum. She* would be glad to keep me, 
only she is afraid she wouldn’t be able to afford 
it.” 

‘‘ I see,” said Mr. Douane, quietly. “ So that 
is how she explains matters. Well, I must say 
I think she might have fitted you out a little bet- 
ter as regards clothes. I suppose she is kind to 
you; you are fond of her, are you not? ” 

Oh, yes, she is very kind,” said loyal Gretel, 
^‘and — and I suppose I’m fond of her. I try 
to be very grateful all the time ; Ada is kind, too ; 
she gave me ten cents once. Of course it- was 


GRETEVS SUNDAY OUT 


lOI 


pretty hard at first, I missed Father so, but Fm 
getting used to it now.” 

Gretel wondered why at that moment her 
brother suddenly took her hand and patted it. 
He did not say anything, but there was a very 
kind look in his eyes, and when he spoke next 
his voice was unusually gentle. 

Tell me about your school,” he said. ‘‘ Do 
you like going to school and what are your 
favorite lessons ? ” 

And Gretel, delighted to find her brother really 
interested in her affairs, told him all about the 
lessons with Miss Talcott; of that lady’s going 
to California, and how Mrs. Marsh had advised 
her to try to make herself useful about the house 
during her enforced holiday. Mr. Douane lis- 
tened very attentively, and although he did not 
say much, Gretel felt sure that he was interested. 
By dint of a few more questions she was led on 
to tell about her daily life and in less than half 
an hour Mr. Douane had learned all, and more 
than he wanted to know about his little sister’s 
life during the past year. 

That was a wonderful afternoon, and Gretel 
enjoyed every moment. She even told her 
brother about Dora, and the visit of Lillie and 
Peter, ending with the story of the cream-puffs. 


102 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


over which Mr. Douane fairly shouted with 
laughter. 

It really was rather funny,” said Gretel, who 
could not help laughing herself at the recollection 
of that dreadful night, ‘‘ but Mrs. Marsh was 
very angry; she says the spots will never come 
out of her rug, and it was so sad about Dora’s 
having to go away. Dora was such a nice girl, 
and it was her first place. Mrs. Marsh wouldn’t 
even give her a reference.” 

Gretel was beginning tO' look rather troubled, 
but her brother said he was sure Dora would soon 
find another place, and then changed the subject 
by asking her where she would like to dine. 

‘‘ There’s a lovely restaurant on Seventh Ave- 
nue,” said Gretel. Father took me there two 
or three times, but perhaps you might think it 
was too expensive. They charge seventy-five 
cents for the table d’hote.” 

Mr. Douane laughed, and looked so much 
amused that Gretel was considerably puzzled. 

“ I have no doubt it is a very fine restaurant,” 
he said, kindly, ‘‘ but I don’t think we will dine 
there this evening. Suppose we try Sherry’s? 
I haven’t been there for some years, but it used 
to be rather good.” 

*^Do you mean that big place on Fifth Ave- 


GRETEUS SUNDAY OUT 


103 


nue? ” inquired Gretel, her eyes opening wide in 
astonishment. ‘‘ Mr. Pendleton took Mrs. Marsh 
and Ada there once, and Ada said the dinner cost 
fifteen dollars. Oh, do you really think we ought 
to go there?’' 

Mr. Douane laughed again, and assured her 
that he thought they might venture to be extrav- 
agant for once, so when they had made the tour 
of Van Cortlandt and The Bronx, the chauffeur 
was directed to take them back to the city, and 
at about seven o’clock the car drew up before the 
big Fifth Avenue resta.urant. 

“ I’ve passed here a great many times, but I 
never thought I should be going in,” whispered 
Gretel to her brother, as they went up the steps, 
and sJie was conscious of a delightful little thrill 
of anticipation. 

Fifteen minutes later they were sitting at a 
small table in the brilliantly lighted restaurant, 
and Mr. Douane was giving one of the waiters 
an order which fairly took away Gretel’s breath ; 
it was all delightful and beyond her wildest 
dreams, but she was a little anxious, notwith- 
standing. 

‘‘What’s the matter, Gretel?” Mr. Douane 
asked, regarding her troubled face curiously, as 
the waiter disappeared with the order. “ Are 


104 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


you afraid you are not going to get enough to 
eat?’’ 

‘‘ Oh, no, indeed ! ” cried Gretel, reddening ; 

it’s all perfectly wonderful, only — only, are 
you quite sure you can afford it? It sounded so 
very expensive.” 

“ Quite sure,” laughed her brother. You 
are an economical little person, Gretel.” 

‘‘That’s just what Father used to say,” said 
Gretel, her face brightening, “ but you see, I had 
to be rather economical, because Father was so 
very extravagant. He didn’t care a bit abo^ut 
things for himself, but he wanted them to give 
to his friends. He used to tell me that if I 
didn’t warn him about not spending all his money, 
he wouldn’t have any at all left. He said Mother 
used to keep his money for him, but after she 
died there wasn’t anybody else to do it, and that 
was why he was always so poor.” 

A shade of sadness passed over Percy Douane’s 
pleasant face. 

“ Poor Mother,” he said, with a sigh, and 
Gretel suddenly remembered that her mother was 
also his, and felt more intimate with this new 
brother of hers than she would have believed pos- 
sible a few hours earlier. 

What a dinner that was ! Gretel had never in 


GRETEUS SUNDAY OUT 105 

her life tasted such delicious things. It was 
rather too early for the usual crowd, but there 
were plenty of diners to watch, and what with 
the bright lights, the music, and the delicious 
food, the little girl felt very much as Cinderella 
must have felt when she first arrived at the ball. 
As for the prince, there could not possibly have 
been a more delightful prince than her brother. 
The night before at Mrs. Marsh’s, she had 
thought him rather quiet, but this evening he was 
the merriest of companions, and what was more, 
he seemed to be enjoying himself quite as much 
as Gretel was. Gretel had been accustomed to 
the society of grown-up people all her life, and 
was in many ways old for her age. She had 
been her father’s friend and companion at an age 
when most children are still in the nursery, and 
even the year spent under Mrs. Marsh’s stem 
discipline had failed to altogether suppress her 
love of talking. So she chattered away, and by 
the time dinner was over Mr. Douane had 
learned a good many things, some of which were 
of such a surprising nature that he found con- 
siderable difficulty in restraining his rising indig- 
nation. 

Do you mean to tell me that Mrs. Marsh 
never bought you a Christmas present with the 


io6 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


money I sent ? ’’ he inquired once, in a tone of so 
much surprise that Gretel was a little startled. 

‘‘ Did you really send money to buy me a 
Christmas present?” she asked innocently. 
“ How very kind you were. Mrs. Marsh didn’t 
tell me about it, but perhaps she forgot. I sup- 
pose she couldn’t spend the money that way, be- 
cause — well, you see, she said she didn’t believe 
you had any idea how much things cost. I’m 
very glad you told me, though, for it makes 
another thing for me to be grateful about.” 

“ Don’t talk to me about being grateful, Gretel ; 
I don’t like it.” Mr. Douane spoke so sharply 
that Gretel was very much embarrassed, but the 
next moment her brother was smiling againr, and 
had said something to make her laugh. 

She felt a little uneasy again when she saw the 
size of the bill her brother handed the waiter, 
and the small amount of change which was re- 
turned to him, but she was beginning to realize 
that Percy did not like being reproved for ex- 
travagance, so she wisely said nothing, although 
she could not help an uncomfortable fear that he 
might be obliged to go without breakfast the next 
morning, as her father had sometimes done. 

There was just one subject that Gretel never 


GRETEUS SUNDAY OUT 


107 


mentioned once all that afternoon and evening, 
and that was “ fairy-land.” When the orchestra 
played popular airs, and her brother asked her if 
she cared for music, she said “ Yes ” in a rather 
low’ voice, and instantly became very much ab- 
sorbed in her ice cream. Music was the one 
thing, about which she did not want to talk, or 
even to think just then. The more she saw of 
her brother, and the more she loved and admired 
him, the less possible it seemed that she could 
ever tell him about the ticket to fairy-land. 

It was not yet nine o’clock when Gretel reached 
home. She and her brother had walked the few 
blocks from Sherry’s to the apartment-house and 
the little girl had found the walk through the 
brightly-lighted city streets with her tall com- 
panion very pleasant. She had rather hoped to 
find the Marshes still out, but the elevator-boy 
informed them that Mrs. Marsh had already 
reached home. 

‘‘ Her friend can’t have asked her to stay to 
supper, then,” said Gretel, regretfully. “ I’m 
afraid she’ll scold a good deal, but you’ll explain 
about it all, won’t you, Percy?” 

“ I certainly will explain,” said Mr. Douane, 
and his tone sounded so determined that Gretel 


io8 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


felt much relieved, even though her brother was 
looking rather stern, and not nearly as pleasant 
as he had looked at the restaurant. 

It was Mrs. Marsh herself who opened the 
door, neither Ada nor the colored maid having as 
yet returned. She was smiling, and greeted Mr. 
Douane in her company voice,’’ but there was 
something in the glance she gave Gretel, which 
caused the child’s heart to sink with a foreboding 
of trouble to come. 

But Percy Douane did not waste much time in 
explanations or apologies. 

“ I took Gretel for a motor-ride, and after- 
wards we dined at Sherry’s,” he said, quite as if 
such unheard-of proceedings were matters of 
every-day occurrence. “ I hope you found the 
note I left for you.” 

‘‘ Oh, yes, thank you; the janitor gave it to me 
as soon as I came in. It was a great treat for 
the dear child. I am sure you have had a delight- 
ful time, Gretel.” 

‘‘ It was beautiful,” said Gretel, with shining 
eyes. ‘‘ I’m sorry you had to get supper all by 
yourself, though,” she added, regretfully. “ I 
hoped that lady you went to see would ask you 
to stay. You said — ” 

Oh, I managed quite comfortably,” inter- 


GRETEUS SUNDAY OUT 


109 


rupted Mrs. Marsh, frowning. '' I am glad you 
have had such a happy day, but it is past your 
bedtime now, so bid your brother good night, and 
run off at once. I am afraid you dpn’t know 
much about children’s bedtime, Cousin Percy.” 

Perhaps not,” said Mr. Douane, rather 
grimly, but Gretel and I have had a jolly even- 
ing, and we are going to have another very soon. 
Good night, little woman.” And he drew his lit- 
tle sister to him, and kissed her with more tender- 
ness than he himself would have believed possible 
a few hours earlier. 

Good night,” said Gretel, returning her 
brother’s kiss heartily. “ You said I mustn’t talk 
about being grateful, but I am just the same. 
I’ve had a perfectly wonderful time.” And then, 
warned by an impatient gesture from Mrs. Marsh, 
she hurried away to her own little room. 

“ And now, Mrs. Marsh, I wish to have a little 
talk with you,” said Mr. Douane, as Gretel’s door 
closed behind her, and there was that in his tone 
which caused that lady to tremble, and turn rather 
pale, as she silently led the way to the parlor. 


CHAPTER VI 


A TRANSFORMED CINDERELLA 

M rs. marsh did not appear at the 
breakfast table the next morning. 
She had a bad headache, Annie told 
Gretel, and was having her coffee in bed. Gretel 
had nearly finished her own breakfast, when Ada, 
still in wrapper and curling-pins, came sauntering 
into the dining-room. 

** Where's Mamma ? " she inquired, with a 
yawn, as she took her place at the table. 

“ She has a headache," Gretel explained ; 
“ Annie took her some coffee and toast on a tray." 
Ada looked more interested. 

Something's up," she remarked, helping her- 
self to an orange. “ Do you know what it is, 
Gretel ? " 

‘‘ No," said Gretel, looking very much sur- 
prised ; “ she didn't say there was anything the 
matter last night. Oh, Ada, I had such a per- 
fectly beautiful time. Percy came for me to go 
for a motor-ride with him. He says I must call 
no 


A TRANSFORMED CINDERELLA 


in 


him Percy, though I don’t think it sounds quite 
polite, when he’s so much older than I am. We 
had a wonderful ride, and then we went to 
Sherry’s and — ” 

‘‘ I felt sure there was something wrong when 
I came home last night,” Ada went on, without 
paying the slightest attention to Gretel’s news. 
“ Mamma was in her room, and wouldn’t open the 
door when I spoke to her. I thought her voice 
sounded queer, and she seemed very cross. I do 
hope it isn’t any more bother about money ; we’re 
poor enough already, goodness knows. I’ll go 
in and get it out of her, whatever it is, as soon as 
I’ve finished my breakfast.” 

As Ada had not proved a sympathetic listener, 
Gretel refrained from any further information 
about her own affairs, and in a few minutes she 
went away to make her bed, leaving Miss Marsh 
to finish her breakfast alone. 

Bed-making is not an easy task for a girl of 
eleven, especially when there is a heavy mattress, 
which one has had strict injunctions to turn every 
morning. Gretel had only this duty to perform 
since the arrival of Annie, who had pronounced 
the work much too hard, and insisted on having 
help. But Gretel was an orderly litlle soul, who 
rather enjoyed housework, and when she made 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


112 

her own bed she had at least the satisfaction of 
getting her room in order in the morning, instead 
of waiting till afternoon, which had sometimes 
been the case during Dora’s reign. She had just 
finished her dusting when her door — which she 
had closed — was flung suddenly open, and Ada, 
looking both flushed and excited, appeared on the 
threshold. 

** Well, you’ve done it ! ” remarked that young 
lady in a tone of such exasperation, that innocent 
Gretel regarded her in amazement. 

“ Done what? ” she inquired, stupidly. 

“ Oh, I guess you know well enough. It’s all 
very well to pretend you don’t, but I don’t believe 
you’re quite such a baby as you appear to be, after 
all.” 

But I don’t know, indeed I don’t,” protested 
Gretel. I didn’t think I had done anything 
wrong, except — oh ! ” And Gretel stopped 
short, with a little frightened gasp, and some of 
the color went out of her face. 

Oh, no, you haven’t done anything wrong; of 
course not,” said Ada, sarcastically. ‘‘ It wasn’t 
wrong to tell wicked stories to that brother of 
yours, and prejudice him against Mamma. 
You’re a mean little tell-tale, and you deserve to 
be severely punished.” 


A ‘ TRANSFORMED CINDERELLA 113 

The color had all flown back into Gretel’s 
cheeks by this time, and though- very much dis- 
tressed, she was no longer frightened. Ada’s 
words had at least assured her that her first great 
fear was groundless. 

‘‘ I didn’t tell my brother wicked stories,” she 
protested, indignantly. “ I don’t know what you 
mean, Ada, I truly don’t.” 

There was such a ring of truth in Gretel’s voice 
that Ada — who was not really an unkind girl at 
heart — was somewhat mollified. 

“ Well, you’ve made a lot of trouble, whether 
you meant to or not,” she said, with a sigh. 

Mamma hasn’t closed her eyes all night, and 
she’s in an awful state this morning. Don’t you 
know it’s very mean to tell people’s private affairs 
to any one, even if he is your brother? ” 

‘‘ But I didn’t tell Mrs. Marsh’s private affairs 
to Percy,” cried Gretel, her voice beginning to 
tremble. ‘‘ I don’t know her private affairs, so I 
couldn’t tell them, even if I wanted to. I didn’t 
tell Percy about anybody but just myself.” 

Before Ada could answer Mrs. Marsh’s voice 
sounded down the hall. 

‘‘Ada, come here, I want to speak to you. 
Can’t you leave that child alone ? I should think 
mischief enough had been done already.” And 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


1 14 

without another word, Ada turned away, slam- 
ming the door behind her. 

Left alone, Gretel stood quite still in the middle 
of the room, staring at the closed door. She had 
not the least idea what all the trouble was about, 
but one thing was painfully clear; in some way, 
quite unintentionally on her part, she had of- 
fended Mrs. Marsh, and made her very angry. 
She was not fond of Mrs. Marsh, but she did not 
want any one to be angry with her. She was 
quite sure she had not told her brother any wicked 
stories, but if he thought she had, and had told 
Mrs. Marsh so, what could she do? She was 
only a little girl, and nobody could be expected to 
believe her word against the word of a grown-up 
person, but why, oh, why, had Percy — her be- 
loved Percy — said such cruel, untrue things 
about her ? He had been so kind, and had' really 
seemed to like her, but if he said she told wicked 
stories he could not possibly like her. It must 
have been all a mistake on her part. Suddenly a 
great wave of disappointment and loneliness 
swept over the poor little girl, and with a sob, she 
flung herself face downward on the bed, just as 
she had done on the day when she came back from 
fairy-land, and began to cry as if her heart would 
break. 


A TRANSFORMED CINDERELLA iiS 

Again it was Annie who disturbed her by open- 
ing the door, and putting in her head, with almost 
the very same words she had used on that other 
occasion : ‘‘ You're wanted in the parlor." And 

having delivered this curt message, went away 
again, leaving the door open. 

Gretel rose slowly, and pushed the tumbled hair 
back from her face. She had been crying so 
hard that her head ached, and she felt rather 
giddy and confused. But this time she did not 
wait to bathe her face before answering the sum- 
mons. If Mrs. Marsh wanted to scold her, it 
might be as well to let her get through with it 
as soon as possible, and that lady did not like to be 
kept waiting. 

Gretel did not look up when she entered the 
parlor. She was such a forlorn little figure, in 
her shabby frock, her face all tear-stained and 
swollen from crying that the young man standing 
on the rug by the mantelpiece, was conscious of 
a momentary feeling of something very like dis- 
may. But when Gretel saw who was the sole 
occupant of the room, and ran to him with a little 
cry, his face softened, and it was with real tender- 
ness that he put his arm round her, saying 
gently : 


Ii6 A REAL CINDERELLA 

What’s the matter, Gretel ? Tell me all about 
it” 

But, to Mr. Douane’s surprise, Gretel did not 
respond to his caress ; she even drew a little away 
from him, and the big brown eyes were full of 
a mute reproach. 

‘‘ What made you say it ? ” she asked in a voice 
that was not much above a whisper. 

‘‘ Say what ? ” her brother inquired, curiously. 

‘‘ Tell Mrs. Marsh I told wicked stories, and 
that I was a — a tell-tale ? ” finished Gretel, with 
a sob. 

Percy Douane’s face grew very stern, and his 
eyes flashed ominously. 

“ Who said I told her any such things ? ” he 
demanded in a voice that fairly made Gretel 
tremble. 

‘‘ Ada said so ; she said I told you her mother’s 
private affairs, but I didn’t; you know I didn’t. 
I only told you about myself. Oh, Percy dear, 
won’t you please tell them you made a mistake? 
Mrs. Marsh is so very angry, and Ada’s angry 
too.” 

“ Gretel,” said her brother, and he made a great 
effort to speak quietly, go and put on your hat 
and jacket; I want you to come out with me.” 

Gretel was very much surprised, but she was 


A TRANSFORMED CINDERELLA 117 

pleased as well. It was a great relief to know 
that she would not have to encounter Mrs. 
Marsh’s wrath just yet, and even if her brother 
did accuse her of telling people’s private, affairs, 
his society was infinitely preferable to that of 
either Ada or the maid Annie. 

‘‘ Where are we going? ” she inquired, regard- 
ing her brother’s grave face, wonderingly. 

“ Never mind ; I’ll tell you later. Run and put 
on your things.” 

“ But oughtn’t I to ask Mrs. Marsh first? She 
doesn’t like to have people go out without letting 
her know.” 

‘‘ Mrs. Marsh knows all about it ; I told her last 
night. Now hurry, like a good child; I want to 
get away from here as soon as possible.” 

Gretel was very much puzzled. She felt sure 
that something unusual had happened, but what 
it was she had not the slightest idea. Without 
another word she turned, and went back to her 
room; put on her hat and jacket, and in less than 
five minutes was back at her brother’s side again. 
Mrs. Marsh’s door was closed, and neither she 
nor her daughter was to be seen. Gretel paused 
for a moment outside the closed door, on her way 
back to the parlor. She could hear the sound of 
low, agitated voices from within but she dared not 


ii8 A REAL CINDERELLA 

linger for fear of making her brother more angry 
than he appeared to be already. 

Mr. Douane was standing by the parlor table, 
hastily writing a note, when Gretel rejoined him. 

“ I am leaving this for Mrs. Marsh,” he said ; 
“ she will understand everything when she reads 
it. Are you ready?” 

Gretel nodded. 

‘‘ Come along, then ; I have a taxi waiting at the 
door.” 

Gretel’s heart was beating very fast as she fol- 
lowed her brother into the elevator, but she did 
not ask any questions until they had left the apart- 
ment house, and were rattling away in a taxi. 
Percy had given the chauffeur an address, but 
Gretel was too much astonished and bewildered 
by this sudden turn of affairs to notice what it 
was. But when her brother suddenly began to 
laugh his pleasant, jolly laugh, and put his arm 
round her again, she began to realize that this was 
a most exciting adventure, and, moreover, that 
she was not at all frightened. 

‘‘Well, that’s over!” exclaimed Mr. Douane, 
in a tone of unmistakable relief. “ We actually 
succeeded in getting away without encountering 
the ogress. How do you like being carried off 
in this sudden fashion, Gretel ? ” 


A TRANSFORMED CINDERELLA 119 

“ I think I’m beginning to like it,” said Gretel, 
whose spirits were rising rapidly, “ but where are 
we going, and who is the ogress ? ” 

“We are going first to the ‘ Gotham ’ — the 
hotel where I am putting up for the present. 
Later we are going to Virginia.” 

“ Virginia ! ” repeated Gretel, staring at her 
brother in blank amazement. “ You said last 
night that you were going to Virginia, but — but 
I never thought I was going with you.” 

“ Well, you are — that is unless you have any 
very serious objections. I have got to look after 
some property of my grandfather’s, and have de- 
cided to take you along with me. We will stay 
at Old Point Comfort ; you will like it there, and 
it is only a few miles from my old home. You 
know I lived in Virginia with my grandfather for 
some years before I went to China. It will be 
fine to get away from these cold March winds; 
I’m not accustomed to cold weather in Hong- 
Kong. What do you think of my plan ? ” 

“ It’s the most exciting thing that ever hap- 
pened to me,” declared Gretel, who was still both 
looking and feeling decidedly bewildered. “ I 
feel as if I must be dreaming, but — but I’m 
afraid I can’t go without some more clothes. I 
didn’t even bring a tooth-brush.” 


120 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


We’ll attend to the clothes all right, so don’t 
worry about that. We are not starting till to- 
morrow afternoon, and there will be plenty of 
time to fit you out before then. I’ve had a talk 
with the housekeeper at my hotel. She seems a 
good soul, and thinks she knows of a suitable maid 
to look after you.” 

“ A maid to look after me ! ” Gretel felt more 
convinced than ever that she must be dreaming. 
“ Why, I thought only rich people had maids ; I 
never even had a nurse after I was five. Father 
did everything for me himself. Oh, Percy dear, 
I really don’t think I need a maid ; it would cost 
so much, and I can do everything for myself now. 
Even Mrs. Marsh says I’m not much trouble.” 

But Mr. Douane only laughed. 

‘‘ You’ll have a lot of things to learn. Pussy,” 
he said, pinching her cheek. “ I presume it is 
something of a shock just at first, but I’ve had a 
rather severe shock myself. If any one had told 
me at this hour yesterday, that I should be 
carrying you off with me to Old Point, I should 
have been inclined to think it a rather poor joke. 
But I’ve had my eyes opened since then. Mrs. 
Marsh hasn’t been playing fair. She and I had 
a settling-up of accounts last night, and I gave 


A TRANSFORMED CINDERELLA 


121 


her a piece of my mind that I don’t believe she 
will forget in a hurry.” 

Gretel was beginning to understand. 

‘‘ Is that why Ada was so cross ? ” she asked. 
'' And why she said those horrid things about my 
being a tell-tale and talking about Mrs. Marsh’s 
private affairs? But I didn’t really tell you any- 
thing I ought not ; did I, Percy ? ” 

“ You certainly did not. You told me nothing 
but the simple truth, but that was quite enough. 
I never knew Mrs. Marsh well, but her husband 
was a fine man, and a great friend of my father’s, 
and I thought I could trust her to do what was 
right by you. I have found out my mistake, and 
for the future I shall steer clear of that charming 
lady and her daughter.” 

‘‘ Do you mean I’m not to go back to Mrs. 
Marsh's at all ? ” questioned Gretel. 

Do you want to go back ? ” 

N — no, not at all, but if I don’t live with 
Mrs. Marsh, who is going to take care of me ? ” 

I am, for the present, until I can make some 
other arrangement for you. Don’t look so dis- 
tressed, little woman; are you afraid I won’t be 
able to look after you properly ? ” 

No, oh, no,” cried Gretel, eagerly. ‘‘ I 


122 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


should love to live with you, only — only it’s all 
been so very sudden, and if I had known I wasn’t 
coming back I could have taken my things.” 

“ What things ? ” her brother asked, kindly. 

Father’s picture, and his letters, and my 
books. Oh, do you think Mrs. Marsh will let me 
have them? I should be so very unhappy with- 
out Father’s letters.” 

Mr. Douane assured her that all her possessions 
should be sent to her, and he spoke in a tone of 
so much conviction, that Gretel’s spirits began to 
rise very rapidly, and by the time the taxi drew 
up before the big Fifth Avenue hotel, she was as 
happy, and as eager for new adventures as any 
little girl starting on her first journey could pos- 
sibly be. 

They went up a great many stories in an eleva- 
tor, walked along a wide corridor, with doors on 
both sides, and finally entered a sitting-room, 
which was so high up that Gretel could see over 
the tops of the neighboring houses, and even catch 
a glimpse of the boats on the river. Here her 
brother told her to take off her jacket, and make 
herself comfortable, while he rang the bell for 
the housekeeper. 

In a few minutes the housekeeper appeared. 


A TRANSFORMED CINDERELLA 


123 


accompanied by a stout young woman, with very 
red hair, and a rather pleasant face. 

‘‘ This is the maid I mentioned to you, sir,” the 
housekeeper explained. I telephoned to her at 
once, and found she was still out of a place. She 
hasn’t been very long in this country, but I know 
her people at home in England, and she can show 
you some excellent references from our best fam- 
ilies.” 

The young woman then stepped forward with 
a courtesy, and Gretel noticed that she looked 
kind, although she was not at all handsome. 

‘^Is this the little girl, sir?” the housekeeper 
went on, glancing rather curiously at Gretel’ s 
shabby frock, and the hat that looked decidedly 
the worse for wear. 

Yes, this is my little sister,” said Mr. Douane. 
“ Would you mind taking her to her room, Mrs. 
Ruggles ? ” 

So while Mr. Douane questioned the maid, and 
examined her credentials, Mrs. Ruggles, the 
housekeeper, took Gretel to an adjoining room, 
which she told the little girl her brother had en- 
gaged for her. It was a large bedroom, and there 
was a bath connecting with it, at sight of which 
Gretel’s eyes opened wider than ever, but she had 


124 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


almost reached the point where nothing further 
could surprise her. If her brother had suddenly 
changed into a fairy prince, and she herself, been 
transformed into an enchanted princess, she 
would have regarded it as quite a natural state of 
affairs. The housekeeper was evidently very 
much interested in her, and she asked a great 
many questions, which Gretel was almost too 
much bewildered to answer. But in a few 
minutes Mr. Douane appeared, smiling, and look- 
ing decidedly relieved. He was accompanied by 
the maid, who was also looking very well pleased. 

‘‘ Gretel,” he said, “ this is Higgins ; she is go- 
ing to look after you, and will go with us to Vir- 
ginia.” 

Gretel came forward, and held out her hand. 

“How do you do?” she said politely; “are 
you Miss Higgins or Mrs. Higgins ? ” 

“Just Tggins, if you please, miss,” said the 
maid, smiling, and beaming all over her plain, 
honest face. “ I prefer being called by my last 
name. It’s quite customary with hupper servants 
in Hengland, miss.” 

Gretel thought it was very odd to call a lady by 
her last name, but then there were so many odd 
things happening to her that morning, that one 
surprise more or less did not seem to make much 


A TRANSFORMED CINDERELLA 


125 


difference. So she accepted the situation without 
any further argument. 

‘‘ You are to go shopping with Higgins/' Mr. 
Douane went on to explain. ‘‘ You will need a 
good many things before we leave for Old Point 
to-morrow afternoon. Mrs. Ruggles has kindly 
offered to go with you, and show Higgins the 
best shops. I have explained what I want you to 
have, and I think we may leave the selection to 
her." 

“ That you may, sir," put in Higgins, cheer- 
fully. ‘‘ I was lady's maid for two years in Lord 
Carresford’s family, and I think I know what's 
proper in the way of clothes for a young lady." 

“Very well," said Mr. Douane; “I will leave 
everything to you and Mrs. Ruggles. As I said 
before, you need not spare expense. I want my 
little sister to be as well dressed as any child of 
her age should be. I don't know much about 
such things, but you women do, so I will leave her 
in your hands for the day. I have some business 
to attend to downtown, but I shall be back this 
afternoon. Is it all right, Gretel ? " 

Gretel nodded ; speech did not come easily just 
then, and ten minutes later, she, Mrs. Ruggles, 
and Higgins were rattling down Fifth Avenue in 
a taxi, bound on a shopping expedition, the 


126 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


thought of which filled the two women with de- 
lightful anticipation. 

It was nearly six o’clock before Mr. Douane 
returned to the hotel. As he entered his private 
sitting-room a little figure, which had been stand- 
ing by the window, sprang forward to greet him. 

‘‘ Look at me,” cried Gretel ; “ oh, look at me! ” 
And that was really all she could say. 

And Mr. Douane did look at her, and the more 
he looked, the more surprised he became. Indeed 
it was hard to recognize the shabby, forlorn little 
girl of the morning, in the radiant, prettily dressed 
child before him. Gretel’s hair — which usually 
hung in two long pigtails, had been combed out, 
and now fell in soft ringlets over her shoulders; 
she wore a pretty, well-fitting white dress, and 
altogether, the change in her appearance was so 
astonishing, that for the first few moments her 
brother could do nothing but hold her off at 
arm’s length, and stare at her in silence. 

Why, Gretel,” he exclaimed, finding his voice 
at last, “ I declare you are pretty,” and he looked 
so very much surprised that Gretel could not help 
thinking her brother must have considered her 
anything but pretty hitherto. 

I’m so glad you like me,” she said, blushing. 
“ I think my dress is lovely, and I’ve got ever so 



“Look at me; oh, look at me! ” 


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A TRANSFORMED CINDERELLA 


127 


many others besides. Oh, Percy, it has been such 
a wonderful day! Mrs. Ruggles and Pliggins 
were so kind and we went to such beautiful stores, 
and bought such quantities of things. I was siu*e 
we must be spending too much money, but Hig- 
gins said you told her to get everything she 
thought I ought to have, and she seemed to think 
I needed a great many things, and so did Mrs. 
Ruggles.” 

They were quite right,” said her brother, 
smiling. ‘‘ I want my little sister to be as well 
dressed as any other little girl we may meet on 
our travels. You really look very fit indeed, 
Gretel ; I compliment Higgins on her good taste.” 

Oh, she has beautiful taste 1 ” cried Gretel, 
enthusiastically. ‘‘ You see, she lived in a castle 
in England, and used to dress the young ladies 
when they went to dinners and balls. I never 
had such beautiful clothes in my life, and I love 
them, only — only I don’t see how I can ever be 
quite grateful enough to you for giving me so 
many wonderful things.” 

‘‘ Look here, Gretel,” said her brother, seri- 
ously, and he sat down, and lifted her on his 
knee. “You are not to think any more about 
being grateful to me, and all that rubbish. You 
are my own little sister, and what is mine is yours. 


128 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


I have far more money than I need for myself, 
and it is my pleasure, as well as my duty, to see 
that you have everything you ought to have. We 
are going to be chums, so I don’t want to hear any 
more about gratitude. Just be happy, and try to 
like your big brother a little, and it will be all 
right.” 

“ Oh, r do like you, indeed I do. I love you 
better than I ever loved anybody except Father,” 
cried Gretel, with her arms round her brother’s 
neck. I’ll try to be good always, and do every- 
thing you want me to, and — and I think perhaps 
I’d better tell you something. It’s very dreadful, 
and you may not like me any more when you 
know about it, but I really think I ought to tell 
you.” 

‘‘What sort of a thing is it?” Mr. Douane 
asked, as he held his little sister close, and looked 
down smilingly into the child’s troubled face. 

“ It’s something I did that was very wicked,” 
whispered Gretel, hiding her crimson face on his 
shoulder. “ It’s very hard to talk about it.” 

“ Then don’t talk about it,” said Percy, laugh- 
ing and kissing her. “ I really don’t think I care 
to know. Come, cheer up, and tell me some more 
about your shopping expedition. Where did you 
go for lunch ? ” 


A TRANSFORMED CINDERELLA 


129 


Gretel gave a great sigh of relief. Her brother 
would never know from what a humiliating con- 
fession his kind words had saved her. 

‘‘ ril be so good all the rest of my life that per- 
haps it won’t matter so very much,” she said to 
herself when she had gone to bed that night. 
‘‘ Perhaps sometime when I’m grown up I shall 
be able to earn enough money to buy some poor 
person a ticket to fairy-land, and then I won’t 
feel quite so mean and ashamed whenever I think 
about last Saturday.” 

So Gretel silenced conscience, which still per- 
sisted in whispering that it would have been better 
to have told her brother the whole story, and fell 
asleep, happier than she had ever been since the 
old days in the studio with her father. As for 
Mr. Douane himself, he had already forgotten all 
about the matter. 

‘‘ She is a dear little thing,” he said to himself, 
as he sat smoking in the sitting-room after Gretel 
had left him for the night. ‘‘ I didn’t quite know 
what I was in for this morning, but I needn’t have 
worried so much. I shall have to send the child 
to some good school before long, I suppose, but in 
the meantime I believe I am going to rather enjoy 
having her with me.” 


CHAPTER VIL 

JERRY AND GERALDINE 

I T was a glorious spring morning about a week 
later^ and Gretel and Higgins, were' sitting on 
the pier at Old Point Comfort, watching the 
departure of a big battle-ship, -which was just 
sailing out of the harbor. At their feet lay the 
beautiful bay, the little waves sparkling and danc- 
ing in the bright sunshine. In New York it was 
still winter, and piles of snow were melting in the 
parks, but here in Virginia spring had already 
come; the birds were singing, and the grass was 
as green as if it had been June instead of the last 
of March. 

Although it was only a little more than a week 
since Gretel had left Mrs. Marsh’s, she already 
looked quite a different child. There was a 
color in her cheeks, and a brightness in her eyes, 
which it did her brother’s heart good to see, and 
as for her appetite, she felt quite certain she had 
never eaten so much in her life. She was very 
130 


JERRY AND GERALDINE 131 

happy, and enjoying every new experience and 
sensation to the full. As yet they had not made 
any friends at the big hotel, but there was so 
much to see, and so many pleasant things to do, 
Gretel had not even thought of other companion- 
ship than that of her brother and Higgins. Mr. 
Douane was growing very fond of his little sister, 
and he was so kind to her, and so anxious to give 
her pleasure, that Gretel sometimes felt as if this 
wonderful new life must be a dream, from which 
she must surely wake some morning, to find her- 
self back in her little room at Mrs. Marsh’s, with 
nothing more exciting to look forward to than 
watching the people going into fairy-land.” 

Higgins was not a very interesting person, it 
is true, but she too was kind, and she treated the 
little girl with so much deference and respect, that 
Gretel was sometimes quite embarrassed. 

‘‘ I wish Higgins wouldn’t say ‘ Miss ’ every 
time she speaks to me,” she had said to her 
brother once when they were alone together. At 
which Mr. Douane had only laughed, and told her 
that it was quite customary for maids to address 
young ladies as ‘‘ Miss.” 

Higgins herself had taken a great fancy to the 
gentle little girl, who always treated her with 
kindness and consideration, and to dress Gretel in 


132 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


her prettiest clothes, curl her hair, and take her 
to walk, were among her favorite occupations. 

‘‘ Do you know, Higgins,’' remarked Gretel, as 
the battle-ship faded out of sight, ‘‘ you’ve never 
told me what your other name is.” 

Higgins blushed and looked a little em- 
barrassed. 

Well, you see, miss,” she explained, ‘‘ I 
don’t use it very hoften; it don’t seem hexactly 
suitable. It was this way, miss. My mother 
before she married was lady’s maid in Sir Mar- 
maduke Cadwalader’s family. ’Er ladyship was 
very kind, and my mother thought a great deal of 
’er in a respectful way, so when I was bom she 
named me for Lady Cadwalader’s second daugh- 
ter. ’Er ladyship was pleased when she ’eard of 
it, and Miss Violet ’erself sent me a mug and 
spoon.” 

“ Miss Violet,” repeated Gretel ; “ is your name 
Violet, Higgins?” 

‘‘ Yes, it is,” Higgins admitted reluctantly, 
“and I must say I don’t like it. Violet ’Iggins 
don’t seem to go rightly together, does it now? 
That’s why I prefer to be called just ’Iggins.” 

“ Violet is a very beautiful name,” said Gretel, 
politely. “ I never knew any one named Violet 
before, but I’ve read it in books.” 


JERRY AND GERALDINE 


133 


‘‘ You never read about a Violet ’Iggins, 
though, did you?’’ inquired Higgins, rather 
grimly. And Gretel was forced to admit that she 
had not. 

‘‘ I’ll call you Violet if you would like to have 
me,” she said, eagerly. ‘‘ I needn’t do it before 
people if you prefer Higgins, but I should think 
you would like to have somebody intimate enough 
with you to call you by your first name. I should 
hate to have everybody call me Schiller.” 

“ It’s very kind of you, I’m sure, miss,” said 
Higgins, who was still looking somewhat em- 
barrassed, ‘‘ but hif you don’t mind, I think I’d 
just as soon be ’Iggins. You see, nobody ever 
did call me Violet. My mother thought hit was 
too grand a name to use without a miss before it, 
so she shortened it to Sally. I was halways called 
Sally at ’ome, but since I’ve been in service I’ve 
halways stipulated that I should be called ’Iggins.” 

Gretel was a little disappointed. She really liked 
Higgins, and was anxious to be friends with her, 
but it did not seem possible to become very inti- 
mate with a person who must always be addressed 
by her last name. But at that moment she 
caught sight of her brother approaching her, ac- 
companied by a lady and gentleman. 

“ Oh, look, Higgins,” she exclaimed, eagerly. 


134 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


“ here cornea Percy, and he’s talking to the father 
and mother of those children we saw at the fort 
yesterday. You know the little boy and girl we 
thought must be twins, they looked so much 
alike.” 

I remember,” said Higgins, disapprovingly, 
and very hill-mannered children they was, too. 
There they are now, hout on the very hend of the 
pier; they’ll be tumbling into the water and get- 
ting themselves drowned the next thing.” 

At that moment Mr. Douane reached his little 
sister’s side, and stopped to speak to her. 

Gretel,” he said, ‘‘ I have met some old 
friends, Mr. and Mrs. Barlow. I have been tell- 
ing them about you, and they say they will be glad 
to have you make friends with their little daugh- 
ter, who is about your age.” 

Gretel rose and curtsied. 

‘‘ I shall be very glad to know your little 
daughter,” she said, speaking in the prim foreign 
way her father had taught her, but I think she 
must be younger than I am. I have seen her and 
the little boy, too. I shall be twelve years old 
next August.” 

Mr. and Mrs. Barlow looked rather amused, 
but they shook hands with Gretel very kindly, and 


JERRY AND GERALDINE 


135 


Mr. Barlow — who was a stout, pleasant- faced 
gentleman — said she was quite correct, and* that 
the twins were only just ten. 

‘‘Are they really twins?” inquired . Gretel, 
with much interest. “ Higgins and I thought 
they might be, but we weren’t sure. I think I 
see them out on the end of the pier now.” 

“ Yes,” answered Mr. Barlow, following Gre- 
tel’s glance, “ they certainly are, and a little too 
near the end, I am afraid.” And he started 
promptly in pursuit of his small son and daugh- 
ter. But Mrs. Barlow — a placid, sweet-faced 
little lady — smiled serenely, and did not seem 
in the least anxious. 

“ Mr. Barlow is always worrying about the 
children,” she said. “ I tell him he is very fool- 
ish ; Jerry and Geraldine are perfectly capable of 
taking care of themselves. Besides, children must 
be taught to learn by experience. We must not 
put the thought of fear into their little minds. 
My Jerry is the most fearless child I have ever 
known.” 

Mr. Douane looked a little puzzled, as if he 
found it rather hard to understand Mrs. Barlow’s 
point of view, but at that moment Mr. Barlow 
returned, accompanied by Jerry and Geraldine. 


136 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


** Children/’ began Mrs. Barlow in her sweet, 
rather drawling voice, ‘‘ such a very pleasant 
thing has happened. We have met an old friend, 
Mr. Douane, and his little sister is going to be 
a dear little playmate for you. Isn’t that delight- 
ful news? ” 

Mrs. Barlow evidently expected the children 
to be quite overwhelmed with joy, but to tell the 
truth, neither Jerry nor Geraldine appeared very 
much impressed. They both regarded Gretel 
with a prolonged stare, but neither spoke, and 
when Gretel held out her hand, Jerry instantly 
put both hands in his pockets, and Geraldine put 
hers behind her back. 

Shake hands, children,” admonished their 
father ; ‘‘ don’t you see the little girl is waiting 
to shake hands with you ? ” 

“ Oh, don’t force them, dear,” Mrs. Barlow 
interposed gently. Children always get on bet- 
ter together when left to themselves. We are 
going to the fort for guard mount, Mr. Douane, 
and shall be very glad to have your little sister 
join us. Please let her come.” 

Mr. Douane said he was sure Gretel would 
be glad to go, and added that he himself, was 
obliged to go away for the day, to attend to 
some business in the neighborhood. 


JERRY AND GERALDINE 


137 


Then why not let your sister spend the day 
with us ? exclaimed Mrs. Barlow. “ That will 
be a charming plan, and the children will be so 
happy. We have only been here two days, and 
they have not had an opportunity of making any 
little friends as yet. You are staying at the 
* Chamberlain,’ I suppose ? ” 

Mr. Douane replied that they were. 

‘‘ We go there for our meals,” said Mrs. Bar- 
low, but have taken a cottage for the season. 
The children are just over scarlet fever, and are 
not to return to school this spring. Would you 
like to spend the day with us, dear? ” she added, 
kindly, turning to Gretel. 

Gretel said she would like it very much. 

“ Very well, then, you shall come with us to 
the fort, and afterwards go back to the cottage. 
We shall all have a very happy day, I am sure, 
Mr. Douane.” 

So the matter was settled, and a few minutes 
later Gretel was walking away to the fort with 
her new friends, while Mr. Douane hurried off to 
catch his train, and Higgins was left to return 
to the hotel by herself. 

“ Now, children, you are all to walk together, 
and make friends,” said Mrs. Barlow, taking com- 
mand of the party, and accordingly the three 


138 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


children started on ahead, while their elders 
brought up the rear. 

For several minutes they walked on in perfect 
silence. Jerry and Geraldine were regarding 
their new acquaintance critically, and Gretel was 
beginning to wonder if both her companions 
could possibly be dumb, when Geraldine at last 
broke silence with the question : 

Did you come in the boat? ’’ 

‘'Yes,” answered Gretel, delighted at finding 
an opening for conversation ; “ we came on the 
Norfolk steamer from New York; it was lovely.” 

“ We came by the train,” announced Geraldine ; 
“ I hate trains, and so does Jerry ; they’re so hot 
and stuffy. We wanted to come by the boat, and 
Father was willing, but Mother wasn’t. Were 
you seasick? ” 

“ No, not a bit. My brother and I sat on deck, 
and there was music, and we had such a good 
dinner. Higgins and I both slept so soundly 
that my brother had to wake us when it was time 
to get up in the morning. I was never on a 
steamer before, but I loved it.” 

“Of course you did,” said Geraldine, with con- 
viction; “we should have loved it, too. We’re 
going on a boat sometime, aren’t we, Jerry?” 

“ Yep,” responded Jerry, shortly. It was the 


JERRY AND GERALDINE 


139 


first time he had spoken, and his voice was so 
very hoarse that Gretel looked at him in astonish- 
ment. 

“ Has your brother a bad cold? ” she inquired 
sympathetically of Geraldine. 

“ It's his tonsils,” Geraldine explained. 
‘‘ Father says they ought to be cut, but Mother's 
using Mind Cure on him, and she thinks they'll 
get well by themselves.” 

‘‘What's Mind Cure?” 

“Oh, don't you know? It's the thing people 
believe in when they don't take medicine or have 
doctors. We had a doctor when we had scarlet 
fever, because Father said we must, but Mother 
thought it was all nonsense about the fumigat- 
ing. Before Mother got to be a Mind Cure we 
had to take castor oil, and rhubarb, and lots of 
horrid things, but we never do now. We like it 
much better this way. Does your mother bring 
you up by the Law of Love?” 

“ My mother died when I was a baby,” said 
Gretel, sadly, “ and my father is dead too. My 
brother takes care of me now, and he is very kind, 
but I don't think I know what the Law of Love 
is.” 

“ Oh, it means never punishing, and only talk- 
ing to you a long time when you're naughty, and 


140 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


things like that,’’ Geraldine explained. Mother 
didn’t know about it till she went to some lectures 
last winter. The lady that gave the lectures said 
children must never have their spirit broken, and 
must learn things by experience. Mother has a 
lot of books that tell how to bring children up 
that way, and she and the lady who gives the 
lectures write to each other about it, too. It’s 
great fun being brought up by the Law of Love, 
isn’t it, Jerry? ” 

“ You bet! ” responded Jerry, heartily. ‘‘ It’s 
great never having to take any more nasty old 
medicine, too. Have you got any more of those 
chocolates along? ” 

Geraldine produced from her pocket a small 
box of chocolate creams, which she handed to her 
brother. 

‘‘ Have one?” inquired Jerry, holding out the 
box to Gretel, and addressing her for the first 
time. 

Gretel politely accepted a bonbon. 

Before Mother got to be a Mind Cure we 
were only allowed one chocolate after dinner,” 
Geraldine observed, complacently, putting a fat 
cream into her mouth. ‘‘Now we can buy all 
we want, and Mother says if they make us ill we 


JERRY AND GERALDINE 141 

shall learn by experience not to eat too many 
again. But they haven’t made us ill yet.” 

At that moment they reached the entrance to 
the fort, and paused to wait for their elders, who 
were some distance behind. Mrs. Barlow greeted 
them with her usual serene smile. 

I hope my little boy and girl have been polite, 
and kind to their new friend,” she said, and Gre- 
tel thought her voice sounded as if she were recit- 
ing something out of a book. “ It is a great 
pleasure to have a new friend, isn’t it?” 

Neither Jerry nor Geraldine appeared to con- 
sider it necessary to answer this question, but 
their mother was evidently accustomed to their 
silence, for she did not look at all surprised, and 
in another moment they were all crossing the 
drawbridge into the fort. 


CHAPTER VIII 


REAL MUSIC 

G uard mount was over, and the Barlows 
with their guest were on their way back 
to their cottage. Gretel had enjoyed the 
morning very much. The soldiers, the bright 
music, and the crowds of people, had all com- 
bined to make the hour of guard mount a most 
delightful occasion. Then, too, she was begin- 
ning to find her new friends very entertaining. 
Geraldine chatted away incessantly, and Jerry, 
although much less talkative than his twin, was 
so amusing that Gretel had found herself laugh- 
ing almost every time he opened his lips. Mr. 
and Mrs. Barlow had soon been joined by some 
acquaintances, and after that the children had 
been left pretty much to their own devices. Mr. 
Barlow kept a watchful eye upon the twins, but 
his wife became so much interested in her con- 
versation with a friend, that she appeared to for- 
get all about everything else. Gretel caught 
snatches of this conversation, in which the words 
142 


REAL MUSIC 


143 


‘‘ Montessori System ’’ — Law of Love ” and 
‘‘ Wonderful Spiritual Experience ’’ were fre- 
quently repeated. 

It was when they were walking home' from the 
fort that Geraldine suddenly remarked in a tone 
of regret — 

“ The parade was nice, wasn’t it ? I’m rather 
sorry we wouldn’t let Miss Heath come.” 

Who is Miss Heath ? ” Gretel inquired with 
interest. 

‘‘ She’s our teacher. Mother said we lost so 
much time having scarlet fever that we must have 
lessons down here, so she brought an old teacher 
along.” 

“ She isn’t old,” declared Jerry, in his hoarse 
little voice ; she’s real pretty, and I wanted you 
to let her come, but you said it was against rules.” 

Well, so it was,” maintained his sister. 

You see,” she added, by way of explanation to 
Gretel, ‘‘when Mother said we had to take a 
teacher with us, we made an awful row. We 
said it wasn’t fair to have to study when we 
weren’t in New York, so at last Mother made a 
compromise. She said if we promised to study 
for two hours every day, we could have all the 
rest of the time to ourselves. We needn’t even 
see the old teacher if we didn’t want to, and she 


144 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


wasn’t to interfere in anything we did. So when 
Miss Heath came, we explained things to her, and 
made her sign a paper we wrote out.” 

“ Did she mind ? ” Gretel asked. She was 
thinking that Miss Talcott might have rather en- 
joyed such an arrangement. 

*'No; I don’t think so; she laughed a good 
deal, and said we were funny kiddies. She told 
Mother she would be glad of the extra time, be- 
cause she wanted to study her music. She offered 
to give us music lessons, but that was something 
we wouldn’t stand. Arithmetic and history are 
bad enough, but music ! Oh, my goodness ! ” 
Don’t you love music?” inquired Gretel in 
astonishment. 

‘‘ Not much, at least not the kind Miss Heath 
plays. I like the music at dancing-school pretty 
well, but Mother’s crazy about Miss Heath’s kind. 
She’s always getting her to play the piano in the 
evenings, and Father listens, too, but he almost 
always goes to sleep. Miss Heath wants to play 
in concerts, and Mother’s going to try to get her 
an engagement when we go back to New York.” 

‘‘ My father played in concerts,” said Gretel, 
eagerly. “ He was a great musician, Hermann 
Schiller — did you ever hear him play ? ” 

Geraldine was forced to admit that she had 


REAL MUSIC 


145 


not, but added politely that perhaps Mother had, 
and just then they reached the cottage Mr. Bar- 
low had taken for the season. Mr. and Mrs. 
Barlow were on their way to call on some friends, 
so the children went into the house alone. 

There's Miss Heath playing now," remarked 
Geraldine, as they mounted the piazza steps, and 
the sound of a distant piano fell upon their ears. 

She always plays when she’s by herself. I 
don’t believe she really minded about our not 
letting her go to the fort.’’ 

“ It was all your fault,’’ declared Jerry; “ I was 
perfectly willing to have her come along.’’ 

Geraldine looked a little ashamed. 

“ Well, if we’d given in to her in one thing, 
it might have made trouble afterwards,’’ she 
maintained stoutly. “We said in that paper that 
she wasn’t to come near us except at lessons, and 
she agreed to it. Come up to my room, Gretel ; 
you can take off your things there.’’ 

But greatly to Geraldine’s surprise, her new 
friend had suddenly appeared to lose all interest 
in her society. As the front door opened, and 
the sound of the piano became more distinct, she 
had given one little start, and was now standing 
quite still, with clasped hands, and parted lips, 
while her cheeks grew pink, and her eyes began 


146 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


to shine in a way that seemed to the twins quite 
startling. 

‘‘ It’s one of Father’s pieces,” she whispered 
rapturously — “ one he wrote himself, I mean. 
Oh, how wonderful ! ” And then, as if forgetful 
of everything else in the world, she darted for- 
ward, and fairly flew across the hall to the parlor, 
followed by her two wondering companions. 

. A young lady was seated at the piano ; a very 
pretty young lady, with dimples, and soft light 
hair, that fell in little curls over her forehead. 
At the entrance of the children, she paused in 
her playing, and turned to greet them with a 
smile. But before she could speak, or the twins 
offer any explanation, Gretel had sprung to the 
strange young lady’s side, and laid a trembling 
little hand on her arm. 

‘‘ Oh, don’t stop, please don’t ! ” she cried im- 
ploringly; ‘‘it’s Father’s sonata, and you were 
playing it so beautifully. I love all Father’s 
things so, and I haven’t heard any of them since 
— since — ” A big sob finished the sentence. 

“ Why, my dear little girl,” exclaimed Miss 
Heath, her face changing from amusement to real 
sympathy ; “ what is the matter — what does this 
all mean, children ? ” 



“Oh, don’t stop; please don’t ! ” 


Page 146. 
















REAL MUSIC 


147 


The twins shook their heads helplessly, and 
stared at their visitor in blank amazement. 

‘‘ There isn’t anything the matter,” faltered 
Gretel, ‘‘ only you were playing Father’s sonata, 
and I was so glad to hear it. I couldn’t help 
getting excited. Please excuse me ; I didn’t mean 
to interrupt.” 

Barbara Heath’s only answer was to slip an 
arm round the little trembling figure. 

‘‘ Who is this little girl? ” she inquired of the 
twins. 

‘‘ Her name is Gretel Schiller,” Geraldine ex- 
plained. ‘‘ Father and Mother know her brother, 
and she’s going to spend the day. We’re going 
up-stairs now; come along, Gretel.” 

But Gretel did not move. 

“ Gretel Schiller,” repeated Miss Heath. 
“ Why, can it be possible that your father was 
Hermann Schiller?” And she glanced at the 
sheet of music before her on the piano. 

“ Yes, he was,” said Gretel, proudly. “ Oh, 
would you mind finishing the sonata ? I want to 
hear it so very much.” 

“Of course I will,” said Miss Heath, kindly. 
“ I am very fond of it myself, but I am afraid I 
may not do it justice; it is rather difficult, and 


148 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


I haven’t had much time for practicing lately.” 

Oh, yes, you will,” protested Gretel. ‘‘ You 
were playing it just the way Father did. I 
haven’t heard any one play the piano like that 
since he died. May I stay here for a little while, 
Geraldine? I want so much to hear the lady 
play ? ” 

‘‘ You can stay if you want to,” answered 
Geraldine, who was beginning to look rather dis- 
gusted at this sudden turn of affairs, but she’s 
Miss Heath, our teacher, and we don’t have to 
stay with her except at lessons. Jerry and I are 
going up-stairs, and you can come when you get 
ready.” And Geraldine departed, followed by 
her brother. 

Then followed an hour of such bliss as Gretel 
had not known since her father’s death more than 
a year before. Miss Heath was really an ac- 
complished musician, and what was more, she 
loved music just as much as Gretel did. It was 
a real delight to play to any one who seemed to 
enjoy it as did this odd little brown-eyed girl, who 
nestled close to her side, and seemed to drink in 
every note with actual rapture. She finished the 
sonata, and after playing several other beautiful 
things, she asked the child kind, interested ques- 
tions, all of which Gretel answered readily. Miss 


REAL MUSIC 


149 


Heath knew all about Hermann Schiller, and had 
even heard him play several times, and she caused 
Gretel’s proud little heart to swell by her praises 
of her father’s talent. Indeed, Gretel was com- 
pletely fascinated by the pretty young lady, and 
it seemed to her quite inconceivable that Jerry 
and Geraldine could regard Miss Heath as a 
rather tiresome addition to the party, whose 
society was to be dispensed with on every pos- 
sible occasion. 

At last Miss Heath suggested that it might be 
well for Gretel to rejoin her friends. 

“ I can’t join them myself,” she added, laugh- 
ing, because I am under contract to appear only 
at lesson hours. They are a funny little pair, 
but I am sure you will like them.” 

Gretel would have preferred remaining where 
she was, but feared it might not be polite to leave 
the twins for too long, so she rose reluctantly. 

Thank you so much for playing,” she said 
in her sweet, courteous little voice ; “ I didn’t 
know I should ever hear any one play the piano 
like that again.” 

I will play for you as often as you like,” 
promised Miss Heath, who was pleased as well 
as touched by the simple compliment. ‘‘ Do you 
expect to be at Old Point long?” 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


ISO 

Gretel said that she was staying at the hotel 
with her brother, and that he was attending to 
some business in the neighborhood. She was not 
sure how long they would remain, but thought it 
would be several weeks. 

‘‘ Then you must come to see me often,” said 
Miss Heath. ‘‘ I haven’t very much to do, as 
the children object to my society out of lesson 
hours. Now come and I will show you the way 
up-stairs; Jerry and Geraldine will think you have 
forsaken them.” 

Gretel found the twins deep in an animated 
discussion; Geraldine perched on the foot of her 
bed; Jerry standing in the middle of the floor, 
his face very red, and both hands thrust deep into 
his pockets. 

Here comes Gretel,” exclaimed Geraldine, as 
the visitor entered the room ; “ shall we let her 
settle it ? ” 

“ Not if she won’t settle it the right way,” 
returned Jerry, firmly. “ I say it’s mean not to 
let her go.” 

“ What is it ? ” Gretel inquired, glancing from 
one solemn little face to the other. 

‘‘It’s about this afternoon,” said Geraldine; 
“ Father has promised to take us to the navy yard 


REAL MUSIC 


151 

at Newport News, and Jerry thinks we ought to 
let Miss Heath go, too/' 

Why, yes, of course you ought," declared 
Gretel, with so much decision that Jerry gave vent 
to his satisfaction by an eager “ Good for you," 
and favored his new friend with a friendly smile. 

But Geraldine was not so easily convinced. 

‘‘It isn’t in the contract," she objected; “the 
contract says she is only to be with us at lessons, 
and to-day is Saturday." 

“Bother the old contract!" retorted Jerry. 
“ I say it’s mean to leave her by herself all the 
time, with nothing to do but read books and play 
on the old piano. If she isn’t to go I won’t go 
either ; so there ! ’’ 

Geraldine was troubled; she was very fond of 
her twin, but a bargain was a bargain. 

“ I know how we’ll settle it," she exclaimed, 
with a sudden inspiration ; “ we’ll draw lots. I’ll 
get two pieces of paper, a long one and a short 
one, and you can draw. The long one means she 
goes, the short one she doesn’t. But if she does 
go she’s got to promise not to say a word about 
history or any other teaching thing all the after- 
noon." 

Jerry consented to this arrangement, and Gretel 


152 


A REAL' CINDERELLA 


looked on with considerable interest while the 
papers were produced, and Miss Heath’s fate de- 
cided. Geraldine held the two pieces of paper 
in her hand, and her brother shut his eyes tight 
before drawing. There was a moment of breath- 
less excitement, followed by a shout of triumph 
from Jerry ; he had drawn the long piece. 

Jerry rushed off to tell Miss Heath the good 
news that she was to be permitted to share their 
society for the afternoon, and Geraldine showed 
Gretel her dolls, and a few other treasures, which 
she had brought from New York, over which the 
two little girls soon became very good friends. 
Then Mr. and Mrs. Barlow came home, and the 
whole party went over to the hotel to luncheon. 

The twins talked a great deal at the luncheon 
table, and expressed their likes and dislikes on 
so many subjects, that Gretel could not .help 
wondering why their parents did not reprovedhem 
occasionally, but Mr. and Mrs. Barlow did not 
appear to notice, and as for pretty Miss Heath, 
she was so bright and merry, and laughed so 
much at the children’s remarks, that Gretel could 
not imagine why they should not find her a most 
delightful companion. Every one was very kind 
to the little visitor, and Mrs. Barlow asked her 
to accompany the party to the navy yard. 


REAL MUSIC 


153 


“ Miss Heath is going, too,’" announced Jerry, 
with his mouth full of ice-cream. 

Mrs. Barlow looked a little surprised, but not 
at all displeased. 

‘‘ Yes, I am really to be permitted to join the 
party,’’ said Miss Heath, laughing ; I believe 
the question was settled by the drawing of lots.” 

“ But there’s a condition,” put in Geraldine, 
gravely ; ‘‘ she isn’t to mention any teaching things 
like history or geography all the afternoon. 
She’s just to be an ordinary lady, not a teacher.” 
At which remark Miss Heath laughed more than 
ever, and Mr. and Mrs. Barlow also seemed much 
amused. 

So, shortly after luncheon the party, consisting 
of Mr. Barlow, Miss Heath and the three chil- 
dren, started for Newport News. Mrs. Barlow 
had an engagement with friends at the hotel, but 
before they started she kissed both twins, and 
delivered quite a long lecture to them, on the 
subject of improving their opportunities. 

This visit to the navy yard is a great privilege 
for my little boy and girl,” she ended, ‘‘ and I 
shall expect them both to appreciate it, and to 
remember all they see and hear. Mother will 
want to be told all about it this evening.” 

Jerry looked rather bored, and Geraldine fidg- 


154 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


eted impatiently from one foot to the other, but 
just then their father called them, and they were 
off like a shot, without even taking the time to 
answer. 

Your mother likes to hear about everything 
you do, doesn’t she?” remarked Gretel a little 
wistfully to Geraldine, as they were on their way 
to the trolley car. ‘‘ My father was like that, 
too ; I always told him about everything.” 

Mother doesn’t really care very much,” an- 
swered Geraldine, indifferently ; ‘‘ she gets most 
of those ideas out of books. She never used to 
bother so much; it’s only since she’s been going 
to those lectures. We like her much better this 
way, though. She used to be always worrying 
for fear we would take cold or eat something that 
would disagree with us.” 

Gretel enjoyed the afternoon immensely. The 
ride in the car, which at times went almost as 
fast as an automobile ; the visit to the navy yard, 
where they were allowed to go aboard a bat- 
tle-ship; and the pleasant society of her compan- 
ions. Before the excursion was over she had be- 
come quite attached to Jerry and Geraldine, and 
was sure Miss Heath must be one of the most 
delightful young ladies in the world. The twins 
were so fascinated with the battle-ship, that their 


REAL MUSIC 


155 


father had some difficulty in tearing them away. 

I think to live on a boat must be the love- 
liest thing in the world,” declared Geraldine, when 
they were at last leaving the big ship. 

“ You will have a chance to try if we go abroad 
next year,” her father told her. But Geraldine 
did not look quite satisfied. 

“ Next year is such a long time off,” she ob- 
jected, “ and perhaps we won’t even go then.” 

‘‘ I’m going sometime, anyhow,” announced 
Jerry in a tone of settled conviction, and then 
the subject was dropped. 

The car going back to Old Point was so 
crowded that it was impossible for the whole 
party to sit together. Mr. Barlow took the twins 
out on the front platform, and Gretel, much to 
her delight, found herself alone with Miss Heath. 

‘‘ Do you think I have behaved myself well 
enough to be invited again ? ” the young lady 
asked, smiling, as the car started. ‘‘ I haven’t 
mentioned any ‘ teaching things,’ have I ? ” 

No, indeed you haven’t,” returned Gretel, 
laughing, ‘‘ but I wish you would talk a little 
about ‘teaching things’ to me — that is if you 
like talking about them. You see, I’m dread- 
fully behind with my lessons, and I haven’t had 
any since January. My brother says he is going 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


XS6 

to send me to school next year, but he's afraid 
it’s a little late to begin this season.” 

Miss Heath looked interested, and by dint of a 
few kindly questions, had soon learned all Gretel’s 
simple story. 

‘‘ It has been so beautiful ever since my brother 
came home, that I feel as if I must be living in 
a fairy story,” finished the little girl, but I’m 
afraid if I don’t begin to learn something soon, 
he may be ashamed of me. I’m even forgetting 
my German.” 

I will speak German with you if you like,” 
said Miss Heath. I studied music for several 
years in Germany, and used to speak the lan- 
guage fairly well.” And she added a few words 
in German, which caused Gretel’s eyes to sparkle 
with delight. 

** You speak it beautifully! ” she cried joyfully. 

Oh, I am so glad. Nobody has spoken German 
to me in such a long time, and I love it so, be- 
cause it was Father’s language. I wish my 
brother spoke it, but he says he doesn’t know a 
word.” 

Miss Heath looked rather surprised, but seeing 
the tears in Gretel’s eyes, she refrained from ask- 
ing any more questions. 

“ I, too, had a dear father, whom I loved very 


REAL MUSIC 


157 


much/’ she said. He only left me last year, 
and I have missed him terribly.” 

Gretel glanced at her new friend’s black dress, 
and instinctively nestled a little closer to her. 

You know all about it, then,” she said, softly. 

Yes, dear, I know all about it.” 

But I haven’t been so lonely since my brother 
came home,” said Gretel. “ I hope you have a 
brother, too; brothers are so nice. I never knew 
how nice mine was till he came back from China.” 

‘‘China!” repeated Miss Heath in surprise; 
“ did your brother go to China ? I have been 
there, too. My father was a great traveler, and 
he and I have been nearly all over the world to- 
gether. It was on our voyage home from China 
that he was taken ill. He died in San Francisco, 
and I have been alone ever since, for I am not 
so fortunate as you. I was an only child, and 
my mother died when I was a little girl.” 

Miss Heath smiled bravely, but her eyes looked 
sad, and her lip trembled a little. With a sudden 
loving impulse, Gretel slipped her hand into that 
of her new friend. 

“ I am so sorry,” she whispered ; “ I wish you 
had a brother.” That was all, but Miss Heath 
squeezed the kind little hand tight, and Gretel 
felt sure that she understood. 


158 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


They were on their way from the car to the 
hotel when Gretel caught sight of her brother, 
standing on the sidewalk just in front of them, 
in conversation with another gentleman. 

“ There’s Percy ! ” she exclaimed eagerly to 
Miss Heath, for she still lingered by her new 
friend’s side, although the twins had run on ahead, 
and Mr. Barlow stopped to do an errand. 

“Where, dear?” Miss Heath asked, for she 
was beginning to feel some curiosity in this big 
brother, of whom her little friend seemed so 
proud. 

“ There, that tall gentleman, talking to the old 
man in spectacles. That’s my brother; don’t you 
think he’s handsome ? ” 

But Miss Heath did not answer. She had 
come to a sudden standstill, and her cheeks had 
grown very pink. Just then Mr. Douane caught 
sight of Gretel and her companion, and he too 
stopped short in evident 'astonishment. 

“ Barbara — I beg your pardon, — Miss 

Heath ! Is it possible ? ” 

Gretel’s eyes opened wide in amazement, and 
well they might, for there was her tall brother 
holding Miss Heath’s hand, and gazing down 
at her with such a strange, glad look in his eyes, 
and there was Miss Heath actually trembling a 


REAL MUSIC 


159 


little, as she declared that she had never been 
so surprised in her life. 

I hadn’t the least idea you were in this 
country,” Gretel heard her say, and her voice did 
not sound quite steady, although she was smiling 
and looking prettier than ever. 

‘‘ And you,” said Mr. Douane, I had no idea 
where you were. I tried to find you, but you 
had left no address at the hotel in Hong-Kong.” 

** I suppose Father must have forgotten to leave 
any,” said Miss Heath. ‘‘ He was not well, and 
decided to leave rather suddenly.” 

For the first few moments neither Mr. Douane 
nor Miss Heath appeared to remember Gretel’ s 
existence, but when Miss Heath explained that 
she had come to Old Point with a Mr. and Mrs. 
Barlow, and Mr. Douane explained in his turn 
that he and his little sister were staying at the 
Chamberlain,” he suddenly remembered Gretel, 
and turned to look for her. And then every- 
body was surprised all over again. 

I had no idea the brother my little friend 
Gretel has been telling me so much about would 
turn out to be a friend of mine as well,” said 
Miss Heath, “but I don’t think I quite under- 
stand the situation even yet. She tells me her 
name is Schiller.” 


i6o A REAL CINDERELLA 

“ My mother’s second husband was Hermann 
Schiller, the pianist,” said Mr. Douane ; “ Gretel 
is their little girl. We never knew each other 
till about ten days ago, but we are great chums 
now.” And he slipped an arm affectionately 
round his little sister. 

‘‘ Oh, Percy,” exclaimed Gretel, the moment 
she and her brother were alone together, having 
left Miss Heath at the Barlows’ cottage, ‘‘ isn’t 
she the dearest, loveliest young lady you ever 
saw, and aren’t you glad you’ve found her again ? 
I heard you tell her you’d been trying to find 
her.” 

I am indeed,” answered Mr. Douane, heart- 
ily. 


CHAPTER IX 


THE LAW OF LOVE 

T he ten days that followed were about the 
happiest Gretel had ever spent in her 
life. There were so many interesting 
and delightful things to do, and each day as it 
passed seemed pleasanter than the one before. 
Somewhat to the surprise of their parents, Jerry 
and Geraldine — who had very decided likes and 
dislikes — had taken a great fancy to Gretel, and 
the three children were constantly together. Mr. 
and Mrs. Barlow were glad to encourage the in- 
timacy, and Gretel was included in all the pleas- 
ures of the twins. But much as she liked the 
companionship of her two merry little friends, 
there was another person in the Barlows’ cottage 
for whose society she cared a great deal more, 
and that was Miss Heath, the pretty young 
teacher. True to her promise. Miss Heath was 
always ready to play, or to speak German ; and to 
hear music and talk in her dear father’s language 
were the two greatest pleasures of Gretel’s life. 

i6i 


i 62 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


She was growing to love Miss Heath very dearly, 
and the young lady, touched at first by Gretel’s 
evident admiration for her playing, soon grew to 
return the little girl’s affection. 

Perhaps Gretel did not enjoy quite as much 
of her brother’s society as in the first week of 
their stay at Old Point, but she did not mind, for 
when not with her was he not sure to be either 
walking or driving with her dear Miss Heath? 
Gretel was an unselfish little soul, and she re- 
joiced heartily in the knowledge that her new 
friend was having a good time as well as her- 
self. 

So the bright spring days came and went, and 
Gretel was very happy. If it had not been for 
one thing — one painful memory — she would 
not have had a care in the world ; but try as she 
would to forget it, that one uncomfortable rec- 
ollection would persist in haunting even her 
happiest moments. Sometimes after she had 
gone to bed at night, she would bury her face in 
the pillow, and wonder miserably what Miss 
Heath would think if she were ever to learn that 
her little friend had once stolen a ticket to fairy- 
land. Yes, that was what she had done; the 
more she thought about it the more certain she 
became. She had known perfectly well that it 


THE LAW OF LOVE 


163 


was her duty to return that ticket to the box 
office, and yet she had willfully kept it, and used 
it herself. 

“ If I only knew the person who lost it were 
rich, and didn’t mind very much,” she said to 
herself over and over again, “ it wouldn’t be quite 
so dreadful, but it may have belonged to some- 
body who was poor, and who loved music just 
as much as I do.” And then she would try to 
imagine how she would have felt if she had 
bought a ticket to fairy-land and lost it. 

‘‘ I’m quite sure I could never have forgiven 
the person who used it,” she told herself with 
conviction. 

It was a cold, rainy afternoon in early April, 
and Gretel and Miss Heath were alone in the 
Barlows’ parlor, enjoying an hour of music. Mr. 
and Mrs. Barlow had lingered at the hotel after 
luncheon, and the twins were up-stairs. 

For the first time that day. Miss Heath had 
succeeded in persuading Gretel to play for her, 
and she was much impressed by the child’s evi- 
dent talent. 

You play very well indeed, Gretel,” she said. 
“ Your brother must let you have lessons from 
a good teacher. Of course you are out of prac- 
tice, but you’ll soon pick up what you have lost.” 




A REAL CINDERELLA 


Greters eyes shone with delight. 

Do you really think I ought to ask Percy to 
give me anything more ? ” she asked a little doubt- 
fully. “ It costs a great deal of money to take 
music lessons, you know.’’ 

Miss Heath laughed. 

I don’t think you need hesitate,” she said ; 
‘‘ I am sure Mr. Douane will be glad to encourage 
your talent, and as for the expense, I wouldn’t 
worry about that if I were you.” 

Gretel looked much relieved. 

“ I’m very glad you think so,” she said. 

Sometimes I can’t help worrying a little for 
fear Percy may be spending too much money. 
Father was so extravagant, and I’m not used to 
having so many things.” 

“ You dear kiddy,” laughed Miss Heath, kiss- 
ing her ; “ if you were my little sister I think I 
should want to give you everything you wanted 
in the world.” 

Oh,” cried Gretel, returning her friend’s kiss 
with effusion, how I wish you were my sister ! ” 
At which remark Miss Heath laughed again, and 
grew so very pink that Gretel regarded her in 
some surprise. 

‘‘ I think to take music lessons would make me 
happier than anything else in the world,” she said 


THE LAW OF LOVE 


165 


after a little pause. I used to dream about 
having them when I was at Mrs. Marsh’s, but 
I never thought my dream would come true. Oh, 
Miss Heath dear, did you ever want to hear music 
so much that it made you ache all over ? ” 

Indeed I have,” answered Miss Heath, with 
ready sympathy; I have felt like that more than 
once during this past year, since my dear father 
left me, and I have been alone in the world. I 
know just what you mean, Gretel. There have 
been days when I have felt that I could spend 
my last penny for a ticket to the opera.” 

Gretel gave a little start, and caught her friend’s 
hand eagerly, but before she could speak, a figure 
passed in front of the window, and Miss Heath 
rose hastily, exclaiming: 

‘‘ Here comes Mr. Douane ; run and open the 
door for him, Gretel.” 

Mr. Douane had come to take Miss Heath to 

* 

a concert, which was to be given that afternoon 
by the Hampton colored students; Gretel had a 
momentary hope that she might be included in 
the party, but nothing was said on the subject, 
and she had already noticed that Percy seemed 
to like to keep Miss Heath to himself. 

The storm is getting worse,” Mr. Douane 
remarked, warming his hands at the fire, while 


i66 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


Miss Heath went away to put on her things. “ I 
am sorry for the people going by the boat to- 
night; the wind is rising, and I think we are in 
for a stiff gale.” 

Gretel went and stood beside her brother on 
the rug, and he put his arm round her, and looked 
down very kindly into her flushed, happy little 
face. She was hoping that Miss Heath might 
mention the music lessons to him that afternoon, 
but did not quite dare broach the subject her- 
self. 

“What are you going to do this afternoon. 
Pussy ? ” Mr. Douane asked. 

“ She is going to stay with the twins and keep 
them out of mischief,” said Miss Heath, return- 
ing at that moment, in hat and waterproof. 
“ Mr. and Mrs. Barlow are going to a tea at the 
colonel’s house, and the children are to be left to 
themselves. Mrs. Barlow appears to have per- 
fect confidence in them, but I confess I don’t feel 
quite so sure of their keeping out of mischief. 
I always feel quite safe, however, when Gretel 
is with them, for she has a level little head on 
her shoulders.” 

Gretel watched her brother and Miss Heath 
from the window until they were out of sight, 
and then went up-stairs in quest of Jerry and 


THE LAW OF LOVE 


167 


Geraldine. She found them sitting on the sofa 
in the temporary nursery, and, somewhat to her 
surprise, neither of their faces brightened at 
sight of their friend and comrade. 

“We thought you’d gone home,” remarked 
Geraldine ; “ you didn’t tell us you were going to 
stay.” 

Gretel was a little offended, but she remem- 
bered that the twins were only ten, and tried to 
make allowances. 

“ I did mean to go home,” she explained pleas- 
antly, “ but Miss Heath asked me to stay. She’s 
gone to a concert at Hampton with Percy, and 
your father and mother are going to a tea. It’s 
raining too hard to go out, so I thought we might 
play something in the house, or else read aloud. 
I’d love to read some more about ‘ Dave Porter.’ ” 

“ Well, I’m sorry, but I’m afraid you can’t 
stay,” said Geraldine, with decision. “ We don’t 
want any company this afternoon, do we, Jerry? ” 

Jerry reddened, and looked very uncomfortable. 
As a rule, he was more polite than his sister, and 
he was, moreover, very fond of Gretel. 

“ Couldn’t we tell her about it ? ” he suggested 
rather timidly. 

“ Of course not,” returned Geraldine, indig- 
nantly. “You really are a dreadful silly, Jerry. 


i68 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


Gretel's all right, and we like her, but she can’t 
expect to be in all our secrets. Miss Heath is all 
right, too, but we don’t want her around except 
at lessons. She understands, and doesn’t get mad 
about it.” 

“I’m not mad,” protested Gretel, reddening; 
“ I don’t want to stay if you don’t want me. I’ll 
go home and read; I’ve got a very interesting 
book that Percy bought for me this morning.” 
And Gretel turned away, and ran quickly down- 
stairs, not wishing to let the twins see how really 
hurt she was. 

“ I wouldn’t have minded if they had asked 
me nicely to go home,” she said to herself, as she 
hurried back to the hotel through the wind and 
rain. “ Geraldine is terribly rude sometimes. 
I think Mrs. Barlow might teach her children to 
be a little more polite.” 

She found Higgins sewing by the window in 
her room. At the entrance of the little girl, the 
maid looked up with a smile. 

“ I’m glad you’ve come ’ome,” she said ; “ it’s 
a hawful hafternoon, and the storm’s getting 
worse hevery minute.” 

Gretel came over to the window, and looked 
out. The usually quiet bay seemed transformed 
into a seething turmoil of waves and foam. 


THE LAW OF LOVE 


169 

“ The Baltimore boat is getting up steam,” she 
remarked with interest ; I don’t suppose many 
people will go on her to-night.” 

‘‘ Well, I pity them that does,” returned Hig- 
gins, solemnly; '' I’ve been in a storm at sea, and 
know the danger.” 

‘‘Were you shipwrecked?” inquired Gretel, 
eagerly. “ The twins have been reading a most 
exciting book about a shipwreck.” 

“ No, we wasn’t, but we hexpected to be hevery 
minute,” answered Higgins. “ It was a hexperi- 
ence folks don’t forget when they’ve once ’ad it. 
Where’s Mr. Douane this afternoon ? ” 

“ Gone to Hampton to a concert with Miss 
Heath. Miss Heath asked me to stay with Jerry 
and Geraldine, but they don’t want me. They 
told me to go home.” 

“ Indeed ! but what can one hexpect from chil- 
dren brought up as they are, let run wild from 
morning till night. ’Ow a sweet young lady like 
that Miss ’Eath can put up with them beats me, 
but it won’t be for long. I’m thinking; there’s 
something in the wind.” 

“ What’s in the wind ? ” Gretel asked, as a 
severer gust than usual rattled the windows. 

“ Never you mind; it ain’t a subject as young 
ladies of your age should talk about. I know 


170 A REAL CINDERELLA 

what’s proper for young ladies, ’aving lived in 
the best families of the Henglish haristocracy. 
When I was at Sir Cecil Marlow’s — where I 
lived two years before going to Lord Carresford’s 
— ’er ladyship was very particular that Miss 
Sylvia and Miss Muriel should never ’ear any- 
thing in the way of gossip, and quite right she 
was, too. The knowingness of these Hamerican 
children is enough to make your blood run cold 
sometimes. There never was two sweeter ordbet- 
ter brought up young ladies that Miss Sylvia and 
Miss Muriel.” And Higgins launched forth into 
a long story about these two paragons of the 
British aristocracy, which was so interesting that 
Gretel forgot to wonder what was in the wind,” 
and why she was not to know about it. 

Higgins now proved a most interesting com- 
panion. It is always interesting to hear about 
people who live in castles, with parks and himt- 
ing-lodges thrown in, and in listening to the Eng- 
lish woman’s stories, the afternoon slipped away 
very pleasantly. By and by, however, Higgins 
went down-stairs to her tea, and then Gretel no- 
ticed for the first time how the wind was howl- 
ing, and the rain dashing against the window 
panes. 

“ The storm is getting worse, just as Percy 


THE LAW OF LOVE 


171 

thought it would/’ she said to herself, with a 
comfortable feeling of satisfaction at being safely 
indoors ; “ I’m glad nobody I know is going on 
the boat to-night.” 

She went to the window, and stood looking 
out at the wild landscape of sea and fain. The 
pier was almost deserted, but the Baltimore night 
boat was evidently preparing to start on her 
journey. A few passengers, chiefly men, were 
goipg on board, but there was none of the usual 
crowd and bustle of departure, which Gretel had 
enjoyed watching on other evenings, for the win- 
dows of her room commanded a fine view of the 
pier, and all the arriving and departing steamers. 
She thought of what Higgins had said about ship- 
wrecks, and gave a little involuntary shiver. • 

Just then her attention was caught by some- 
thing so astonishing that she uttered a little cry 
of dismay, and, regardless of wind and rain, 
hastily threw up the window, and leaned out. 
Along the pier, battling against the storm, came 
two resolute little figures ; a small boy and a small 
girl. They had no umbrella, but were evidently 
dressed for rainy weather, and the boy was carry- 
ing a brown paper parcel under his arm. 

‘‘ Jerry — Geraldine ! ” shrieked Gretel, leaning 
as far out of the window as she could, and shout- 


172 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


ing at the top of her voice; where are you go- 
ing? Come back; come right back this minute.” 

But the noise of the wind drowned Gretel’s 
voice, and at that moment she saw her two little 
friends calmly cross the gang-plank, and dis- 
appear from view on board the Baltimore 
steamer. 

So that was the secret ; that was why the twins 
had sent her home ! They had deliberately 
planned to run away, and take this trip on the 
boat. She remembered several mysterious hints, 
which had passed unheeded at the time. The 
twins had been planning an adventure. But they 
must be stopped; they must be brought back be- 
fore the boat started. Gretel did not know just 
what time it was, but she knew that the boat left 
at five, and felt sure it could not be far from that 
hour. If it had been a clear night she would 
not have been so much frightened, knowing that 
Jerry and Geraldine were capable of taking care 
of themselves under most circumstances, but in 
this dreadful storm — oh, she must do something; 
she must stop them before it was too late. 

Hastily snatching her waterproof from the 
wardrobe, Gretel opened the door, and, without 
even waiting to close the window, ran at full 
speed down the long corridor to 'the stairs. Most 


THE LAW OF LOVE 


173 


of the hotel guests were in their rooms at that 
hour, and the few people she met did not appear 
to pay much attention to the child, as she flew 
downstairs, across the covered piazza, and out 
onto the pier. A gust of wind nearly took her 
off her feet, and the sudden dash of rain in her 
face took away her breath, but she pushed res- 
olutely on. Had not Miss Heath said she always 
felt the twins were safe when she was with them? 
Surely, oh, surely, she would be able to persuade 
them to give up their adventure, and go back 
before the boat started. 

It was so slippery crossing the gang-plank that 
Gretel almost fell, but a strong hand caught her, 
and a good-natured voice remarked — 

“You’re in a mighty hurry, Missie; the boat 
don’t start for five minutes yet.” 

“ Five minutes ! ” panted Gretel ; “ oh, I must 
hurry.” And before the astonished steward 
could ask any questions, she had fled up the stairs 
to the saloon. 

'But where were the twins? That was the 
question. They were nowhere to be seen in the 
saloon, and Gretel’s heart sank. Suppose she 
failed to find them before those five precious 
minutes were up; what should she do? She 
never thought of her own danger of being car- 


174 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


ried off; her one desire was to rescue her two 
little friends before it was too late. There were 
very few passengers on board that day, for many 
who had intended taking the trip had changed 
their plans on account of the storm. The saloon 
was practically deserted, and Gretel met no one 
as she hurried along, calling eagerly, “Jerry, 
Geraldine ; oh, children, where are you ? 

But this time her voice was not drowned by 
the gale, and suddenly the door of one of the 
staterooms was opened a very little way, and a 
laughing, mischievous face peeped out. 

With a boimd Gretel reached the door; pushed 
it farther open, and forced her way in. 

“ Come back,” she cried authoritatively ; 
“ come back this minute ; the boat’s going to start. 
Oh, how could you do such a dreadful thing? ” 

But Jerry and Geraldine did not come back; 
on the contrary, they retreated to the furthest 
comer of the stateroom. 

“ We’re going to Baltimore,” announced 
Jerry; “we’re stowaways. Come in and shut 
the door.” 

“ Oh, how can you be so silly ? ” cried Gretel, 
actually stamping her foot in her impatience; 
“you know perfectly well you can’t go off to 


THE LAW OF LOVE 


m 

Baltimore by yourselves. Besides, it’s an awful 
storm; the boat may be wrecked.” 

But if Gretel hoped to frighten the twins by 
this dreadful possibility, she was much mistaken. 

‘‘ Shipwrecked ! ” cried Jerry, with t little skip 
of delight; *‘oh, goody, that would be the best 
of all! Come in and shut the door; if anybody 
sees us we can’t be stowaways.” 

But you can’t be stowaways, you know you 
can’t. I never heard of anything so ridiculous. 
Oh, children, do come quick; there’s the whistle.” 

‘‘ But we don’t intend to come back,” said Ger- 
aldine, tranquilly. She had seated herself on the 
lower berth, and taken off her hat and raincoat. 
'' Don’t you understand we’re doing it on pur- 
pose? We’ve brought some supper with us in a 
parcel, and we’re going to have a wonderful time. 
We told you we were going on the boat some 
time.” 

‘‘ But think how frightened everybody will 
be,” urged Gretel, trying a new tack. ‘‘You 
don’t want to frighten your mother and Miss 
Heath, and — and every one, do you? They 
won’t have any idea where you are.” 

Oh, yes, they will,” Geraldine reassured her; 
we left a letter telling them all about it. Jerry 


176 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


wrote it, but I made it up. It was such a lovely 
letter; just like one in a book we read, that a 
boy wrote his mother when he was running away 
to sea. Mother says we’ve got to learn things 
by experience, and how can we learn about boats 
unless we go on one? They made us come all 
the way from New York in a horrid train, and 
we’ve got to go home that way, too, because 
Mother doesn’t like boats. So if we don’t go 
by ourselves we shall never know what boats are 
like. We’re going to be stowaways, and stay in 
here for quite a long time, and then we shall let 
ourselves be discovered, and everybody will be 
so interested, the way they are in stories. 
They’ll give us lots of good things to eat, and 
make up a purse for us, but we’re so clean they 
won’t need to give us a bath.” 

Gretel clasped her hands in despair. 

But think how seasick you’ll be,” she haz- 
arded as a last resource, and how you’ll be pun- 
ished when you get home.” 

‘‘ Pooh ! ” sniffed Geraldine, contemptuously ; 
“ we’re Mind Cures ; Mind Cures never get sea- 
sick. It’s only sillies like you that bother about 
such things.” 

We shan’t be punished either,” chimed in 
Jerry; ‘‘we’re never punished now, not since 


THE LAW OF LOVE 


177 


Mother began bringing us up by the Law of Love. 
She’ll only talk to us, and we don’t mind that 
much. Besides, she said we had to learn things 
by experience. There’s somebody coming; I’ve 
got to shut the door.” 

And before the horrified Gretel could inter- 
pose, or even utter another word of protest, Jerry 
had closed the door, locked it, and put the key in 
his pocket. And at that very moment the sec- 
ond whistle sounded, and the steamer began to 
move. 


CHAPTER X 


LEARNING BY EXPERIENCE 


G RETEL sank down upon the bed beside 
Geraldine, and began to cry. 

“ The boat’s going,” she sobbed ; “ we 
can’t get off now. We’ve got to go all the way 
to Baltimore, and it’s such a dreadful storm. 
Oh, it’s awful ! It’s awful ! ” And poor little 
Gretel lifted up her voice and wailed. 

Now, neither of the twins liked to see people 
cry. Mischievous and troublesome as they fre- 
quently were, their hearts were anything but 
hard, and at sight of their friend’s tears they 
both began to look rather ashamed of them- 
selves. 

Do stop being such a silly,” said Geraldine, 
crossly, but she slipped an arm round Gretel’s 
waist as she spoke, and tried to draw her hands 
down from her face. 

I don’t see what you came for if you’re such 
a scare-cat,” remarked Jerry in his gruffest tones. 
178 


LEARNING BY EXPERIENCE 


179 


‘‘We came for an adventure, and you’re going 
to spoil it; I think you’re real mean.” 

“ I didn’t come on purpose,” protested Gretel 
between her sobs; “I only came to bring you 
home. I didn’t know the boat would go so soon. 
Oh, I wish I hadn’t come. I don’t want to be 
shipwrecked and drowned just now when Percy 
has come home, and everything is so lovely.” 

Now, oddly enough, the prospect of being ship- 
wrecked, which had struck the twins as so allur- 
ing only a few minutes earlier, had suddenly lost 
its charm, and both little faces began to look very 
grave. 

“ We’re not really going to be shipwrecked,” 
said Geraldine, imeasily ; “ we only said so for 
fun. We’re not a bit afraid, and we’re going 
to have a wonderful time. You’ll have a good 
time too if you’ll only stop crying and making 
such a fuss. We don’t mind your coming with 
us, do we, Jerry? ” 

“ Of course we don’t,” said Jerry; “ I wanted 
to tell her about it all the time, but you said we 
mustn’t.” 

“That was because I was afraid she’d tell,” 
explained Geraldine ; “ but now you’re here, Gre- 
tel, and can’t go back, I don’t see why you won’t 
have a good time. The boat won’t stop again 


i8o A REAL CINDERELLA 

till we get to Baltimore to-morrow morning; we 
found that out before we started/’ 

But Gretel did not feel in the least like hav- 
ing a good time. 

‘‘Have you brought any money?” she in- 
quired mournfully. 

The twins shook their heads. 

“ Then how do you expect to get home 
again?” demanded Gretel, with a fresh burst of 
tears. 

“ Oh, the passengers who make up the purse 
for us will send us home; they always do,” Jerry 
assured her cheerfully. “ Stowaways never take 
any money with them. There was a little boy 
stowaway on the same ship with our imcle, and 
the passengers got up a concert for him, and 
gave him ’most a hundred dollars.” 

“We didn’t bring any other things either,” 
added Geraldine, “ not even a tooth-brush. 
Jerry thought it would be more of an adventure 
to go to bed without brushing our teeth, and 
with all our clothes on. Then of course we 
won’t have to take a bath in the morning. You 
i haven’t got any night things either, have you? ” 

“Of course I haven’t — how could I have? 
I was just looking out of the window at the 
storm, and I saw you getting on the boat. I 


LEARNING BY EXPERIENCE i8i 

knew you were going to do something dreadful, 
so I ran after you just as fast as I could. No- 
body knows where I am. Oh, what will Percy 
and Higgins think ! ” 

‘‘ Oh, do stop howling,” exclaimed Jerry, at 
the end of his patience; ‘‘ we’ll tell them it wasn’t 
your fault, and I don’t believe you’ll be pun- 
ished.” 

‘‘ Does your brother often punish you? 
Geraldine asked a little anxiously. 

He never has punished me, but I haven’t 
known him long. It isn’t the being punished 
that I mind ; it’s — it’s — oh, everything I ” and 
Gretel broke down once more and wailed. 

But there was no use in crying over what could 
not be helped, and in a little while Gretel dried 
her eyes, and began to wonder what was going 
to happen next. The twins would not hear of 
her first suggestion that they should come out of 
their hiding-place at once, and Jerry positively 
refused to produce the key of the locked door. 

“We came to be stowaways,” he maintained 
stubbornly, “ and stowaways never come out for 
a long time.” 

On almost any other day they would probably 
have been discovered within a very short time, 
as the stateroom would have been claimed, but 


i 82 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


owing to the severity of the storm, very few of 
the cabins were occupied, and so it was more 
than half an hour before the stewardess be- 
thought herself to knock gently at the door, to 
inquire if the inmate of number fifty-two wanted 
anything. In the meantime the twins, who, hav- 
ing come out for a good time, were determined 
to have one, had opened their parcel, and spread 
out the refreshments, which consisted of cake, 
bananas, and chocolate. 

‘‘We bought them this morning when we were 
out with Miss Heath,’’ Geraldine told Gretel. 
“ She didn’t know what we wanted them for, 
but Jerry said we were going to have a feast, 
and she knows she isn’t to interfere if it isn’t 
lesson time. Then we met your brother, and he 
talked to Miss Heath, and I guess she forgot all 
about us. It’s pretty early for supper, but I 
think we may as well begin, don’t you, Jerry? ” 

“Ye — es,” said Jerry, eying the array of 
good things rather dubiously; “I’m not very 
hungry yet, though; suppose we wait a little 
longer. I wonder what makes the boat swing 
so much.” 

“ It’s because it’s getting rough,” said Gretel. 
“ I was on a boat once with Father when it was 
very rough. We went down to Pleasure Bay 


LEARNING BY EXPERIENCE 


183 


on an excursion, and before we got back a storm 
came up, and the boat rocked dreadfully. Some 
of the people on board were seasick, but Father 
and I liked it.” 

At that moment the steamer gave a sudden 
plunge, which sent the children nearly off their 
feet. Geraldine put down the piece of chocolate 
she had just begun to eat, and turned rather 
pale. 

‘‘ I guess we will wait a little while longer,” 
she agreed. “ Don’t you think it’s rather hot in 
here? Let’s open the window.” 

But the opening of the window proved a more 
difficult task than the children had expected, and 
while Jerry and Gretel were still struggling with 
a refractory fastening, Geraldine suddenly rolled 
over in a little heap on the bed, in the midst of 
the refreshments. 

“ What’s the matter? ” demanded Jerry, look- 
ing a little frightened. 

‘‘I — I don’t know,” faltered Geraldine, with 
white lips; ‘‘I feel very queer; I think I’m ill.” 

‘‘ You’re seasick,” announced Gretel, who knew 
the signs ; “ I guess we’ll have to call somebody. 
We can’t open the window, and you won’t feel 
any better till you get some fresh air.” 

It was at that moment that there came a tap 


i 84 a real CINDERELLA 

at the stateroom door, and Jerry, no longer re- 
fusing to produce the key, promptly unlocked 
it, and admitted a colored stewardess who at 
sight of the three children, and the feast, threw 
up her hands, with an exclamation of dismay. 
But when she learned that the children were 
traveling alone, and had come on board without 
any luggage, her astonishment and horror were 
almost beyond the power of words to express. 
She kept repeating “ fo’ de land’s sake ! ” over 
and over again, and finally departed to tell the 
news to the head steward, and as many of the 
passengers as cared to listen. By the time she 
returned, accompanied by the purser and two 
stewards, poor little Geraldine was really in a 
very bad way indeed. 

‘‘ And no wonder,’’ remarked the purser, with 
a grin; ‘"we haven’t had a night like this in 
months. I’m afraid you’re in for it, little miss. 
And how are you feeling?” he added, turning 
to the other two. 

“ I’m — I’m all right I guess,” said Jerry, try- 
ing to smile, though the effort was rather a fail- 
ure ; “ we won’t really be sick, you see, because 
we’re Mind Cures. Mind Cures never have any- 
thing the matter with them. We’ve only got 
to — ” But at that moment the steamer gave 


LEARNING BY EXPERIENCE 


185 


a tremendous roll, and Jerry never finished his 
sentence. 

Half an hour later, two very limp little figures, 
with very white faces, were stretched on the 
berths in number fifty-two, from which the 
stewardess had charitably removed the feast.” 
Both twins were very sick — much too sick to 
care about feasts, adventures, or anything else. 

I want Mother, oh, I want Mother ! ” wailed 
Geraldine, between paroxysms of seasickness; 

she always takes care of us when we are ill. 
Oh, I wish we hadn’t come ; I do, I do 1 ” 

I think I’m going to die,” announced Jerry, 
and his gruff little voice was very shaky. 

“ Oh, no, you’re not,” Gretel reassured him. 
She was not at all sick herself, but was helping 
the stewardess minister to her friends. “ You 
are only seasick, and people never die from sea- 
sickness.” 

I think I’d just as soon die as feel this way,” 
groaned Jerry, at which the stewardess laughed 
in a way which seemed to the children quite 
brutal. 

But she was not by any means a brutal or 
heartless person, and was really as kind as pos- 
sible to the two little sufferers. She tried to per- 
suade Gretel to go down to the dining-saloon to 


i86 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


have something to eat, but although not sick, 
Gretel had no desire for food just then, and much 
preferred remaining where she was. 

As the evening advanced the storm seemed to 
grow worse, instead of decreasing, as the pas- 
sengers had hoped it might when leaving Old 
Point, and the little steamer rolled and pitched 
in a manner calculated to disturb even the best 
sailors. 

Do you think we are going to be ship- 
wrecked ? ’’ Gretel whispered anxiously to the 
stewardess. The twins were beyond caring 
whether they were wrecked or not. 

Shipwrecked ! ” repeated the colored woman, 
scornfully; “no, indeed. Don’t you be scared, 
Missie; dis yere boat’s all right. We’ll bring you 
safe into Baltimore to-morrow mornin’, sure as 
Fate.” 

But though the stewardess spoke so confidently, 
there were some people on board who were not 
quite so sanguine, and when Gretel went out into 
the saloon for a little air, she found several of 
the lady passengers in tears. 

“ It’s the most terrible experience I’ve ever 
had in my life,” declared one hysterical woman. 
“They had no right to start the boat in such 
a gale.” 


LEARNING BY EXPERIENCE 187 

“If we ever see Baltimore I shall be very 
much surprised/’ wailed another. “ Oh, why 
did I ever leave my husband and children ! ” 

Gretel did not repeat these remarks to her 
companions when she went back to the state- 
room, but her heart was anything but light, and 
she was growing more frightened every moment. 

At ten o’clock the stewardess looked in for 
the last time before going to bed. The twins 
were a little better, and had both fallen asleep. 

“ Dey’ll be all right now, I guess,” she told 
Gretel. “ You’d better go to sleep too. Dere 
ain’t any more beds in here, but I can put you in 
another room. Dere’s plenty of empty ones dis 
trip.” 

But Gretel would not leave her friends, and 
preferred curling up on the sofa, where she lay, 
with wide-open eyes, listening to the strange 
sounds of creaking and groaning, all quite 
familiar to people accustomed to life on ship- 
board, but which seemed to her very “ frighten- 
ing” indeed. She was sure they were going to 
be shipwrecked; they would all be drowned, and 
she would never see Percy or Miss Heath again. 
She wondered if Percy would be very sorry, and 
what Miss Heath would say. They had neither 
of them known her very long, and of course 


i88 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


could not be expected to care as Mr. and Mrs. 
Barlow would care if the twins were drowned, 
but they had seemed to be rather fond of her, 
and, oh, how good and kind they both were. 
There was no use in trying to be brave or cheer- 
ful any longer, and poor little Gretel let her feel- 
ings have their way, and sobbed into the sofa 
cushion. 

She cried herself to sleep, and had just fallen 
into a comfortable doze, when the steamer gave 
a terrific roll, which sent her off the sofa. Ger- 
aldine awoke with a shriek of terror as she struck 
the floor. 

For a moment it really seemed as if some- 
thing frightful had happened, and the children 
clung to each other in helpless terror, but then 
the steamer righted herself once more, and every- 
thing seemed quiet. 

‘‘ Oh, Fm so frightened — Fm so frightened ! ’’ 
sobbed Geraldine, even seasickness forgotten in 
this new alarm. Gretel, do you think weTe 
going to be drowned?’' 

I guess it would serve us right if we were,” 
observed a hoarse little voice from the upper 
berth. ‘‘ It was a pretty awful thing to do, to 
run away by ourselves, and frighten Mother.” 

“ Mother said we must learn things by experi- 


I 


LEARNING BY EXPERIENCE 


189 


ence/' said Geraldine, with chattering teeth, ‘‘ and 
I guess we are doing it, all right. It's much 
worse than being punished. I'd rather be 
whipped every day, and not have any candy for 
a month, than be seasick." 

“ Shut up about candy," commanded Jerry, 
“ I don't ever want to see any candy again, or 
cake, or bananas either. I don't want ever to 
eat anything, even meat or vegetables. I say, 
Geraldine, do you suppose Mother's awfully 
frightened about us?" 

“ I'm afraid she is," said Geraldine, mourn- 
fully; “she gets scared pretty quickly, even if 
she is a Mind Cure. I hope she won't be ill, like 
she was the time she thought Father had been in 
a railroad accident. She'll feel dreadfully if 
we're drowned." 

“ You won't be drowned," her brother assured 
her; “they always put the women in the life 
boats first. I may be, because of course I shan't 
go till all the women and children are saved. 
Boys never do, you know." 

“ Oh, Jerry, you are a brave boy! " exclaimed 
Geraldine, admiringly, “ but I wish you wouldn't 
talk about it; it scares me so." 

But Jerry seemed to rather enjoy the subject. 

“If I am drowned, you'll tell Father and 


190 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


Mother how brave I was, won’t you ? ” he said. 

Father can have my Waterbury watch, and 
Mother can keep my seal ring if she wants it. 
It’s too small for her to wear, but she might like 
to have it to remember me by. I guess I’ll let 
you have my magic lantern and the Punch and 
Judy show, Geraldine, but you must be very care- 
ful of them, because, you know, I might not be 
dead, after all. I might be rescued, and carried 
off on a ship, and sold for a slave, like the boy 
in that book we read, and when I come back of 
course I’d want my things, and — ” Here an- 
other big wave sent the steamer over on her. side 
again, and brought Jerry’s remarks to a sudden 
conclusion. Geraldine screamed, and clutched 
Gretel tight. 

‘‘ I don’t want to be drowned — I don’t want 
to be drowned ! ” she wailed. We’ve been 
dreadfully naughty, and perhaps God won’t let 
us go to Heaven.” 

‘‘ Oh, yes, I’m sure He will,” soothed Gretel. 
‘‘ Let’s say our prayers. We haven’t said them 
to-night. I’m sure God will take care of us if 
we ask Him.” 

‘‘ Yes, let’s say our prayers,” agreed Geral- 
dine, eagerly. ‘‘ I was so sick I forgot all about 


LEARNING BY EXPERIENCE 191 

saying them before, but I’ll do it now. You say 
yours too, Jerry; we’ll all say them together.” 

So the three children folded their hands, rev- 
erently, and repeated the evening prayer they 
all knew : 

“ Jesus, tender Shepherd, hear me, 

Bless thy little lamb to-night; 

Through the darkness be Thou near me; 

Keep me safe till morning light” 

And after that although the storm continued, 
and the little steamer pitched and plunged as much 
as ever, things did not seem quite so terrible as 
they had before. Gretel seemed so certain that 
God would take care of them, and somehow the 
twins had come to have a great deal of faith in 
Gretel. 

God always takes care of people when they 
ask Him to,” said Gretel, confidently. ‘‘ Father 
asked Him to take care of me when he was ill, 
and He did. First Mrs. Marsh let me go and 
live with her, and afterwards Percy came home. 
Father said I must always ask God to take care 
of me every day.” ^ 

“ I hope He’ll take care of Mother, too, and 
not let her be ill because she’s so frightened about 
us,” said Geraldine, tremulously. ‘‘ How do you 


192 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


suppose we are ever going to get home, Jerry? 
We haven’t any money, and nobody has said any- 
thing about making up a purse for us.” 

Jerry had no suggestion to offer, but Gretel, 
who was nearly two years older than the twins, 
and had had a good deal more experience, said 
she was quite sure they would be taken care of. 

‘‘ Perhaps they’ll let us stay on the boat till it 
goes back to-morrow night,” she suggested, but 
Jerry and Geraldine did not take at all kindly 
to that idea, and Jerry protested loudly that he 
would rather walk all the way back to Old Point 
than spend another night on that dreadful boat. 
The very thought caused Geraldine a return of 
seasickness, and she was most unhappy for the 
next hour. 

It was really a terrible night, and our three 
little friends were not the only people on board 
who lay awake and trembled, but towards morn- 
ing the wind began to go down, and the sea grew 
calmer. By four o’clock they were in compara- 
tively quiet water, and Gretel as well as the twins 
had fallen fast asleep. 

They were still sleeping when the stewardess 
accompanied by the head steward, came to have 
a look at them, but at the sound of voices, and 


LEARNING BY EXPERIENCE 


193 


the sudden flood of light caused by the opening 
door, Jerry sat up and rubbed his eyes. 

“ Good morning, young gentleman,’’ said the 
head steward, pleasantly ; “ how are you feeling 
to-day ? ” 

“I’m all right,” declared Jerry, stoutly; “is 
it breakfast time? ” 

“ It will be pretty soon — are you hungry ? ” 

“ I guess I am,” said Jerry, a little doubtfully; 
“ what did you do with our feast ? ” 

“ I think the stewardess must have taken 
charge of it. You didn’t seem particularly keen 
about eating it yourselves last night. You can 
have anything you want for breakfast.” 

Jerry began climbing down from his high bed. 

“ I’m ready,” he announced cheerfully ; “ it’s 
good I haven’t got to stop to dress. I never went 
to bed with my clothes on before, but I like it; 
it saves so much trouble. I don’t think I’ll stop 
to wash. I haven’t had anything to eat since 
lunch time yesterday.” 

Just, then Gretel and Geraldine woke up, and 
the steward told them they were already in Balti- 
more harbor, and the boat would be at her dock 
in a few minutes. 

It was more than half an hour later, how- 


194 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


ever, before the three rather bedraggled little 
figures made their appearance on deck. In the 
meantime they had been provided v^ith a bounti- 
ful breakfast, to 'which they had all done justice, 
but notwithstanding that fact, and the reassuring 
knowledge that they were actually in Baltimore, 
all three faces were very grave and troubled. 
The stewardess had assured them that they would 
be cared for, and their friends communicated 
with, but that there was nothing for them to do 
but remain on board all day, and go back to 
Old Point on the return trip that night. 

“ It isn’t always as bad as last night,” Gretel 
said, trying to speak cheerfully. “ It was really 
quite smooth the night Percy and I came. Per- 
haps you won’t be sick going back.” 

The twins shuddered. 

I think a boat is the most dreadful place in 
the world,” declared Geraldine. “ Oh, don’t you 
suppose we could get off, and go back by the 
train? ” 

Gretel shook her head decidedly. 

And they never made up a purse for us, after 
all,” exclaimed Jerry, in a tone of disgust, and 
he glanced about the almost deserted deck, for 
the boat was now at her pier, and most of the 
passengers had already gone on shore. 


LEARNING BY EXPERIENCE 


195 


The rain had ceased, but it was still cool and 
cloudy, and the children shivered a little as they 
stood leaning against the railing, and looked 
down at the crowd of people and vehicles on the 
pier. 

It does feel sort of queer to be wearing the 
same clothes youVe had on all night,’’ Geraldine 
admitted, with a sigh. “Lots of things aren’t 
as nice when they really happen as people think 
they’re going to be beforehand. I wonder if 
that’s what Mother means by learning by ex- 
perience.” 

Jerry nodded. 

“ I guess it is,” he said, “ but I don’t think I 
like learning by experience as much as being pun- 
ished. I say, let’s ask Mother to go back to 
the old way. I don’t care much about the Law 
of Love, anyway. I’d rather have one good 
punishment, and get it over with; this learning 
by experience business isn’t much fun.” 

Just then there was an exclamation from Gre- 
tel. 

“ Look, oh, look ; isn’t that your father on the 
pier ? ” 

In another second the twins were literally 
hanging over the railing; their hands waving, 
their voices raised in wild shouts of excitement. 


196 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


'' Father, Father, here we are,’' they yelled, 
jumping up and down in their sudden joy and 
relief. ‘‘ Oh, Father dear, we’re so glad you’ve 
come, too. Please, please take us back in the 
train.” 





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CHAPTER XI 


WHAT WAS ''in the WIND ” 

I T was afternoon, and the Baltimore express 
was nearing the station at Old Point. 
From the window of the parlor car three 
very solemn little faces were looking out at the 
familiar landscape. It did not seem possible 
that less than twenty-four hours had elapsed 
since they had seen it last. It seemed to the 
children that they must have been away for at 
least a month. It had not been a cheerful jour- 
ney, for Mr. Barlow was very much annoyed, 
and had had a long serious talk with his small 
son and daughter, in the course of which Jerry 
and Geraldine had both been reduced to repent- 
ant tears. 

" When Father scolds he’s much worse than 
Mother,” Geraldine whispered to Gretel. " He 
doesn’t get angry often, but when he does it’s 
something awful. We really have been dread- 
fully bad. Father says when Mother got our 
letter, and found the boat had gone, she was so 
197 


198 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


frightened she had hysterics. Did you ever see 
any one have hysterics ? 

Gretel said she never had. 

Then you don’t want to. We’ve seen 
Mother lots of times and it’s awful. Miss Heath 
was frightened, too, and so was your brother. 
I wonder if you’ll be punished when you get 
home.” 

‘'Of course she won’t,” declared Jerry, in- 
dignantly ; “ it wasn’t her fault she only came 
to take care of us. I’m going to tell Mr. Douane 
so the minute I see him.” 

Gretel gave her little friend a grateful glance. 

“ I shouldn’t like Percy to be angry with me,” 
she said. “ I wonder if he’ll be at the station.” 

“ I guess he will,” said Jerry. “ Father says 
he would have come on the night train to Balti- 
more with him, only they couldn’t be quite sure 
you were with us, so he had to stay and look fo-r 
you, but Father telegraphed this morning as soon 
as he found us on the boat, so everybody knows 
now.” 

“ Here’s the station,” announced Geraldine 
from the car window, “ and there are Mr. Douane 
and Miss Heath on the platform. O dear! I 
wish my hair wasn’t so mussed, and my dress 
so dirty. Miss Heath always looks so neat.” 


WHAT WAS •‘IN THE WIND 


199 


They certainly were a dilapidated looking 
party as they stepped from the train, and were 
greeted by their waiting friends. The absence 
of the usual combing and scrubbing was pain- 
fully apparent, and all three children looked very 
much the worse for wear. But Miss Heath and 
Mr. Douane were so thankful to see the three 
little faces again that they were quite ready to 
overlook deficiencies. 

‘‘ Mr. Douane,” said Jerry, walking straight 
up to Gretel’s brother, in his honest, fearless 
way, ‘‘ we want to tell you right off that you 
mustn’t punish Gretel. It wasn’t her fault. She 
only came on the boat to make us go home, but 
we wouldn’t mind her, and then the boat started, 
and she had to come along, but she didn’t want 
to one bit.” 

“What did I tell you, Percy?” cried Miss 
Heath, triumphantly. “ I knew Gretel would 
never do such a thing voluntarily.” And, to 
everybody’s surprise the pretty young lady caught 
Gretel in her arms and hugged her. 

“How’s Mother?” Geraldine inquired, rather 
timidly. It was quite wonderful how meek both 
the twins were at that moment. 

Miss Heath looked grave. 

“Your mother is better this afternoon,” she 


200 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


said, ‘‘ but she has been very ill. It was a ter- 
rible experience for her.’’ 

Miss Heath spoke in a tone the twins had 
never heard her use before, and regarded the 
two little culprits with such sternness in her gaze, 
that they both quailed beneath it. 

“Were you very much frightened. Pussy?” 
Mr. Douane asked kindly, as he and his little 
sister walked back to the hotel together. 

“ It was pretty frightening,” Gretel admitted, 
slipping her hand into her brother’s as she spoke, 
“ but I thought God would take care of us, and 
He did. Were you worried about me, Percy?” 

“Very much indeed. When I came back 
from Hampton, and Higgins met me with the 
astounding news that you had gone out in the 
storm without even a hat on, I could not imagine 
what had happened. I went over to the Barlows’ 
cottage, and found myself in the midst of such 
a scene of excitement as I had never even im- 
agined. The twins’ note had been discovered, 
and poor Mrs. Barlow was in violent hysterics. 
Of course we thought you must have gone with 
the others, and yet it seemed very strange. Miss 
Heath and Higgins were both convinced that you 
would never have done such a thing, and besides, 
your name was not mentioned in the note. I 


WHAT WAS IN THE WIND 


201 


can tell you it was a great relief to our minds 
when Mr. Barlow’s telegram arrived this morn- 
ing.” 

Mr. Barlow was very kind,” said Gretel. 
‘‘ He bought me this hat in Baltimore before we 
went on the train. I should have hated to come 
all the way home without a hat. He paid the 
people on the boat too, and gave the stewardess 
a present for being so good to the twins when 
they were seasick. I’m so glad Miss Heath 
didn’t believe I went because I wanted to. She 
said she always felt safe about Jerry and Geral- 
dine when I was with them. That’s one reason 
why I ran after them when I saw them going on 
the boat.” 

“ Miss Heath is coming over to see you by and 
by,” said Mr. Douane, smiling. ‘‘ I think she 
has something to talk to you about.” 

Gretel looked very much pleased. 

It made her feel quite grown-up and important 
to hear that a young lady wanted to talk to her. 

“ I love Miss Heath better than any one I 
ever knew except Father and you,” she said; 
‘‘ I’m so glad you like her, too, Percy. Don’t 
you hope we shall keep on seeing her when we 
go back to New York?” 

I most certainly do,” agreed Mr. Douane, 


302 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


and there was such an odd expression in his eyes 
that Gretel regarded him rather curiously. 

You look as if you were very happy about 
something,’' she remarked wonderingly; ‘Ms it 
because I’ve come back? ” 

“ Partly for that reason, and partly for some- 
thing else,” her brother answered evasively, and 
Gretel did not like to ask any more questions on 
the subject. 

“ It was nice of Jerry to tell you why I went 
with them,” she said, by way of changing the 
subject. “I like Jerry very much; he’s so 
honest; he doesn’t talk much, but he thinks a 
lot. He’s very fond of Miss Heath, too. I’m 
so glad you will want to see Miss Heath after 
we leave here. It’s very sad to get fond of 
people, and then never see them any more.” 

“ It is indeed,” responded her brother. “ I 
have had one experience of that kind myself, and 
I don’t want another. I lost Miss Heath once, 
but I don’t intend to lose her again if I can help 
it.” 

Gretel was much interested, and would have 
liked to ask a number of questions, but at that 
moment they reached the hotel, and foimd Hig- 
gins eagerly watching for them from the piazza. 

Higgins greeted her little charge with a burst 


WHAT WAS IN THE ‘WIND 


203 


of genuine affection. She had grown very fond 
of Gretel, and her joy and triumph when she 
discovered that she had been correct in her con- 
viction that the child had not run away volun- 
tarily, was almost as great as Miss Heath’s had 
been. She took Gretel up^stairs to her room, 
where she insisted on undressing her at once and 
putting her to bed. 

‘‘ You look about ready to drop,” she declared. 
^'To think hof a young lady like you going to 
bed with ’er clothes on, and running hoff with- 
out heven a comb or a tooth-brush, fairly sends 
chills down my spine.” 

Gretel protested that she was not at all tired, 
but Higgins was firm, and really the warm bath, 
and soft, comfortable bed were very pleasant. 

A bed is much more comfortable than a berth 
on a steamboat,” she remarked, with a sigh of 
content, as she nestled down between the cool, 
clean sheets. ‘‘ I wonder if Jerry and Geraldine 
have gone to bed, too.” 

Jerry and Geraldine had gone to bed, but they 
were not in by any means such good spirits as 
their friend. The sight of their mother’s white, 
haggard face and swollen eyes, had been more 
of a rebuke to the two little sinners than any 
amount of punishment, and Geraldine’s first ac- 


204 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


tion on reaching home was to fling herself on 
Mrs. Barlow’s neck, with a burst of remorseful 
tears. 

“ Oh, Mother dearest, please, please punish 
us,” she sobbed. ‘‘ We’d rather be punished than 
talked to, we really would. We’re so dreadfully 
sorry, and it was most all my fault, because 
Jerry never thought of it till I put the idea into 
his head.” 

It was late in the evening when Gretel awoke 
from a long, refreshing nap, to find the faithful 
Higgins sewing by her bedside. She was feel- 
ing decidedly better, and also very hungry. 

May I have some supper?” was her first 
question, when Higgins had told her what time 
it was, and complimented her upon her improved 
appearance. 

Higgins said she would go down-stairs, and 
order something from the dining-room. 

And I’ll tell Miss ’Hath you’re hawake,” she 
added. She’s been up twice halready, but you 
were asleep both times. Mr. Douane told me to 
let them know the minute you hawoke; they’re 
hon the piazza together. I said there was some- 
thing in the wind ; I know the signs.” 

Higgins departed, leaving Gretel very much 
puzzled by her last words. This was not the 


WHAT WAS IN THE WIND’* 


205 


first time she had heard ‘‘ there was something 
in the wind/’ and she was beginning to be de- 
cidedly curious as to what it could be. She was 
not kept long in suspense, however, for in a very 
few minutes the door opened, and Miss Heath 
herself came in, looking prettier than ever, with 
all her dimples showing, and the brightest color 
Gretel had ever seen in her cheeks. 

“ I’m so glad you came to see me,” said the 
little girl joyfully, as her friend, after kissing 
her, drew a chair to the bedside. I’ve had 
such a nice nap, and I’m not a bit tired now, only 
hungry.” 

‘‘ Higgins has gone to order some supper for 
you,” said Miss Heath, ‘‘ and while we are wait- 
ing for it I have come to have a little chat. I 
want to tell you about something which has made 
me very happy.” 

‘‘ Oh, I’m so glad,” cried Gretel, and she took 
Miss Heath’s hand and kissed it in the pretty 
foreign way her father had taught her. ‘‘ I 
know you must be happy; your eyes shine so. 
Has somebody you love very much come to take 
care of you, just as Percy came to take care of 
me ? But, oh, I forgot ; you haven’t any brothers, 
have you ? ” 

No, I haven’t any brothers,” said Miss Heath, 


206 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


smiling, ‘‘ but you are not so far wrong in your 
guess, Gretel; some one I love, and who loves 
me, is going to take care of me, and I am very, 
very happy.” 

Is it a gentleman ? ” inquired Gretel, with a 
sudden flash of intuition, “ and do you mean you 
are going to be married. Miss Heath ? ” 

Miss Heath laughed a rather embarrassed 
laugh, and kissed Gretel again. 

‘‘You clever kiddie,” she said; “what made 
you guess? Yes, I am going to be married to 
one of the nicest men in the world — aren’t you 
glad?” 

“ Yes,” said Gretel, with a little catch in her 
voice, “ I’m very glad for you, only — only if 
you get married I suppose you’ll go away, and 
perhaps I won’t ever see you any more. Percy 
and I were talking about you this afternoon, and 
we both hoped so much that we should go on 
seeing you when we went back to New York.” 

“ So you shall,” promised Miss Heath. “ My 
home is to be in New York, or near it, and I hope 
we shall love each other very dearly, Gretel.” 

“ Then I am just as glad as I can be ! ” cried 
impulsive Gretel, and she threw her arms round 
Miss Heath’s neck and hugged her. 

Miss Heath returned the embrace heartily, and 


WHAT WAS IN THE WIND 


207 


then she took Gretel’s hand, and held it, as she 
went on with her story. 

‘‘ I have known the — the gentleman for sev- 
eral years,’’ she said. “We met in China, and 
he and my father were very good friends, but 
when my father was taken ill, and we left Hong- 
Kong suddenly, we lost sight of each other for 
a time. When my dear father died I was very 
unhappy and very lonely. I came to New York 
by myself, and hired a hall bedroom in a board- 
ing-house. I could not afford anything better, 
for my father was not rich, and when he died 
there was very little money left. I have an uncle 
in Chicago, who wanted to help me, but he has 
a large family of his own, and I did not want to 
be a burden to him. So I struggled along as 
well as I could, giving music lessons to the few 
pupils I could obtain, but it was a very different 
life from that to which I had been accustomed. 
When you told me about your life at Mrs. 
Marsh’s, and how you used to long for a little 
music, I thought of myself in the sad, lonely days 
last winter. 

“ But one day, just when things seemed about 
as bad and hopeless as they could be, I received 
a kind letter from Mrs. Barlow, asking me to 
join her family, come down here with them, and 


208 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


teach the children for the rest of the season. 
That was less than a month ago, but since then 
everything has changed for me, and now I am 
so happy that I don’t feel as if I could ever be 
sad or lonely a'gain.” 

I’m just as glad as I can be,” declared Gretel, 
heartily ; “ it’s the nicest story I ever heard, but 
— but, would you mind telling me about how 
you found the gentleman again ? ” 

I found him right here at Old Point ; wasn’t 
it wonderful, Gretel? We had both come here 
without having the least idea of finding each 
other.” 

‘‘Do Jerry and Geraldine know about it?” 
asked Gretel. 

“ Not yet, but they will to-morrow. I wanted 
you to know first, because — well, you see, Gre- 
tel dear, you know the gentleman.” 

“ I know him ! ” cried Gretel, sitting up in bed, 
and regarding her friend with wide, astonished 
eyes. “ Why, I don’t know any gentleman ex- 
cept Percy and Mr. Barlow, and — oh. Miss 
Heath, I hope he isn’t that old Mr. Oliver, with 
the bald head.” 

Miss Heath broke into a merry laugh, which 
was echoed by another laugh, as Mr. Douane — 


WHAT WAS ‘'IN THE WIND 


209 


who had been lingering outside the door — sud- 
denly appeared on the threshold. 

Old Mr. Oliver ; that is a good guess ! he 
cried, merrily. ‘‘ Why, he has had three wives 
already, I believe. Come now, Gretel, can’t you 
think who the happy man is ? ” 

Gretel gazed from one happy face to the other 
in growing bewilderment, but before she could 
speak, Mr. Douane himself settled the question in 
her mind by putting his arm round Miss Heath, 
and kissing her. 

‘‘ I do believe I’m the happiest girl in the whole 
world,” sobbed Gretel. “ I don’t know what 
makes me cry when I’m so glad, but I can’t help 
it. I thought it was beautiful enough to have a 
brother, but to have a sister too — oh, Miss 
Heath, dear. I’m going to try so very hard to be 
good enough to deserve you.” 


CHAPTER XII 


GOING TO A WEDDING 

‘ ^ T WISH when people have weddings, they’d 
I have them in the afternoon, instead of 

JL in the morning,” observed Geraldine, in 
a rather complaining tone, as she carefully 
smoothed out the folds in her white dress before 
taking her favorite seat on the piazza railing. 
‘‘We have to wear our good clothes in the after- 
noon, anyway, but it’s simply awful to be dressed 
up like this at ten o’clock in the morning.” 

Jerry said nothing, but gazed mournfully at 
his immaculate white suit, and freshly blackened 
boots, and sighed. It was the first of May, as 
perfect a spring day as had ever dawned, and 
it was also Barbara Heath’s wedding day. The 
twins were occupying the cottage piazza in soli- 
tary state, while up-stairs Mrs. Barlow, Gretel, 
and Higgins, were all engaged in dressing the 
bride. 

“ It wouldn’t be quite so bad if it were going 
to be a big wedding, like people have in New 
210 


GOING TO A WEDDING 


211 


York/’ Geraldine went on. Then we could 
look at the presents, and perhaps I could be a 
flower girl, and you could hold up the bride’s 
train, like Bobby Campbell did when his aunt 
got married, but Miss Heath isn’t going to have 
any train, and there won’t be any people in the 
church but just us, and her uncle from Chicago.” 

‘‘ There isn’t even to be any wedding cake,” 
objected Jerry, disgustedly. ‘‘ I thought of 
course there would be cake, and we could each 
have a box to ourselves.” 

I know why they’re not having any cake, or 
flower girls, or trains,” said Geraldine. “ Miss 
Heath said she wanted to have a very simple wed- 
ding. I suppose she didn’t want to have Father 
and Mother pay for things, but I should think 
Mr. Douane might have paid; he’s awfully 
rich.” 

Is he really ? ” inquired Jerry, looking in- 
terested. 

“Yes, I heard Father and Miss Heath’s uncle 
talking about it the other night. Father said 
Miss Heath was a very lucky girl, and I guess 
Mr. Heath thought she was lucky, too, for he 
rubbed his hands, and looked as pleased as could 
be.” 

“ I don’t believe Miss Heath cares much, 


212 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


though/' remarked Jerry, in a tone of conviction. 

She isn't the kind of person to like anybody 
just because he's rich. She'd marry any one she 
was fond of, and she's awfully fond of Mr. 
Douane." 

It's very nice to see everybody so happy," 
said Geraldine, but I do wish they would have 
the wedding in the afternoon. It’s dreadfully 
stupid to have to sit around like this in the morn- 
ing, instead of going to dress parade. Oh, here 
comes Gretel. Are they 'most ready?" 

‘'Almost," said Gretel, as she joined her 
friends on the piazza. “ Barbara and your 
mother are having a little talk by themselves, and 
I think they're both crying. Your mother asked 
me to come and see if you were all right, and 
to tell you to be sure not to move off the piazza 
till they come." 

“ Oh, we're not going to move," sighed Geral- 
dine, resignedly. “ Does Miss Heath look 
pretty ? ” 

“ Just wait till you see her,” responded Gretel, 
with shining eyes. “ Higgins says Lady Violet 
Cadwalader wasn’t half as pretty when she was 
a bride, and she wore white satin and point lace. 
Oh, Geraldine, I’m so happy I feel as if I would 
like to. fly." 


GOING TO A WEDDING 


213 


‘‘ Gretel, do you know that your brother is 
very rich? ” inquired Jerry. He had been much 
impressed by his sister’s remark. 

‘‘ Oh, yes,” said Gretel, simply. ‘‘ You see, 
when Mother married Father all her first hus- 
band’s money went to Percy, and then his grand- 
father left him a lot more besides. I used to 
be afraid Percy was extravagant, but Barbara 
says he isn’t, and Higgins says when people have 
money they ought to spend it for the good of 
trade, so I don’t worry any more. They’re going 
to have a beautiful home, and I’m going to live 
with them. Isn’t it wonderful? I couldn’t 
quite believe it at first, but they both say they 
want me. Higgins thought they would send me 
to boarding-school, but Barbara says I’m not to 
go till I’m fourteen, and I’m not twelve yet.” 

‘‘ You’d better make some rules about lessons 
then,” advised Geraldine. ‘‘ Draw up a con- 
tract, the way we did, and make Miss Heath 
sign it. If you don’t she may want to teach you 
things all day long.” 

Gretel laughed. 

‘‘ I don’t believe she would,” she said, “ and 
even if she did, I shouldn’t mind a bit. I’d 
rather be with Barbara than any one else in the 
world.” 


214 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


Well, you are a queer girl,” said Geraldine, 
looking rather incredulous. Miss Heath is all 
right, and very nice for a teacher, but I can’t im- 
agine wanting her round all day long. Why, 
the two nicest things about her getting married 
are that we won’t have any more lessons this 
spring, and that you are to stay with us for a 
whole month, while she goes on a wedding trip..” 

“ But Miss Heath won’t be a teacher when 
she’s married,” suggested Jerry. “ I think she’ll 
be a very nice person to live with. I wouldn’t 
mind one bit living with her myself.” 

‘‘Mind!” cried Gretel, indignantly; ‘‘who 
could possibly mind? Higgins says she con- 
siders it a great privilege to live with such a 
lovely young lady, and I think I’m the luckiest 
girl in the world to have her for a sister.” 

“ Here come the carriages,” annoimced Jerry, 
springing down from the railing, where he had 
been perched beside his twin. “ Oh, I hope 
they’ll be ready soon. Where’s Mr. Douane, 
Gretel ? ” 

“ He’s going to meet us at the church,” said 
Gretel. “ He said good-by to me at the hotel, 
and I put a flower in his button-hole. He looked 
perfectly splendid.” 

Geraldine said she would go and see if the 


GOING TO A WEDDING 215 

bridal party were nearly ready, and forthwith 
departed up-stairs, returning in a moment with 
the joyful intelligence, that they were really com- 
ing at last. 

‘‘ You and I are to go in the carriage with 
Father and Mother, Jerry,’’ she explained. 

Miss Heath wants Gretel to go with her and 
her uncle. She really does look lovely, even if 
she hasn’t got a train, or white satin, or any- 
thing grand.” 

‘‘ She couldn’t have a wedding dress like that,” 
said Gretel, “ because, in the first place, there 
wasn’t any way of getting one made down here, 
and then she and Percy are going right off in 
the train as soon as the wedding is over.” 

I don’t see why Miss Heath wouldn’t let 
Father and Mother give her a wedding, break- 
fast, as they wanted to,” complained Jerry. 
‘‘ There might have been cake then, and there 
would have been lots of good things to’ eat, any- 
way.” 

Just then the bridal party was seen coming 
down-stairs, and for the moment everything else 
was forgotten. Ten minutes later they were all 
on their way to Hampton, for it was in the little 
Episcopal church at Hampton that the wedding 
was to take place. Gretel and her new sister 


2I6 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


sat side by side in the carriage, while Miss 
Heath’s uncle from Chicago — an elderly gentle- 
man, with a tired, careworn face — sat opposite 
to them, and looked at his watch a good many 
times during the drive. Nobody talked much, 
and as they drew near the church Miss Heath took 
Gretel’s hand and held it. She was looking very 
happy, but there were tears in her eyes, and her 
lip trembled. 

It was a very simple wedding, but that was 
just what the bride and bridegroom both wanted. 
The little church was decorated with spring 
flowers, and as the bride walked up the aisle on 
her uncle’s arm, the organ struck up the Bridal 
March from “ Lohengrin.” Gretel caught her 
breath with a little gasp. It was the first time 
she had heard that music since the day of her 
stolen visit to fairy-land, and suddenly her cheeks 
grew very hot. 

“ I wonder if I shall ever have the courage to 
tell Barbara,” she thought, uncomfortably, but 
just then the service began, and she forgot every- 
thing else in listening to the solemn words, which 
she was hearing for the first time in her life. 

It was all over. Miss Heath was Hiss Heath 
no longer, but Mrs. Percy Douane, and the whole 


GOING TO A WEDDING 


217 


party were in the vestry, where the bride and 
groom were receiving congratulations. 

It's our turn now, Jerry,’’ whispered Geral- 
dine, excitedly, pulling her brother’s sleeve, when 
the pretty bride had been kissed and congratulated 
by Mr. Heath, Mr. and Mrs. Barlow, and de- 
lighted Gretel. “ Oh, dear, I wonder what we 
ought to say.” 

I know,” said Jerry ; ‘‘ I’ve been making it 
up.” And he advanced, followed by his as- 
tonished twin. It was the first time in his life 
that Jerry had ever taken the initiative in any- 
thing. 

Hello ! ” he began, pausing directly in front 
of the bride, and speaking in his gruffest tones. 
‘‘ We want to say something. We’re glad you’re 
married, and we hope you’ll be very happy. We 
can’t say we’re sorry you’re not going to teach 
us any more, because we don’t like teachers 
much, but you’re the nicest teacher we ever had, 
and if we’ve got to have one at all, we’d rather 
have you than any one else.” 

Yes, that’s true,” chimed in Geraldine; you 
really have been awfully nice for a teacher, and 
you’ve been so fair. You haven’t broken the 
contract once.” 


2I8 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


How everybody laughed. Mrs. Douane kissed 
both twins — much to Jerry's disgust — and 
hugged Geraldine so tight that she came near 
crushing the bridal bouquet. And then the car- 
riages drove up to the church door again, and it 
was time to say good-by. 

‘‘ Good-by, Gretel darling," Mrs. Douane 
whispered, coming back to give her little sister 
a last kiss. ‘‘ A month will soon pass, and then 
we shall all be together again, and just think how 
happy we shall all be." 

‘‘ I am thinking of it all the time," answered 
Gretel, hastily winking back the rising tears. 

I shall count the days till the first of June, 
though." 

At the same moment Mr. Douane was shaking 
hands with Mrs. Barlow. 

‘‘It is mighty good of you people to take 
charge of our little sister for the next month," 
he said, heartily. “ I shall look up a place for the 
summer as soon as possible, and hope we shall be 
settled somewhere by the time you come north 
in June." 

‘‘ Indeed you need not thank us," said Mrs. 
Barlow, smiling. “ It will be a real pleasure to 
have dear little Gretel with us; I know of no 
sweeter companion for my children." And this 


GOING TO A WEDDING 


219 


time Mrs. Barlow spoke as if she meant what she 
said, and not as if she were quoting something 
out of a book. 

‘‘ Hurrah ! ” shouted Jerry, waving his cap 
from the church steps, as the carriage containing 
the bridal couple disappeared around the corner, 
that’s over, and now we can go home and take 
off our best clothes. Weddings aren’t so bad, 
after all, but they’re not half so much fun as 
dress-parade.” 

Come along, Gretel,” said Geraldine, slipping 
an arm about her friend’s waist; a most unusual 
demonstration of affection from her. ‘‘ I’m 
glad you didn’t go away, too. Miss Heath did 
look lovely, and I can’t help feeling a little sorry 
we’re not going to see her any more, but Mother 
says we can stop at that candy store we passed, 
and buy all the chocolates we want, to 'make up 
for there not being any wedding cake.” 


CHAPTER XIII 


THE PALACE OF BEAUTY 

I T was a lovely June afternoon, and an auto- 
mobile was bowling swiftly along the Hud- 
son Boulevard, away from the big, noisy 
city. It was a large touring-car, and in it were 
four persons. On the front seat were a lady and 
gentleman, the latter of whom was running the 
car himself, and in the back were a little girl 
and a maid. The little girl, to whom motoring 
was still a novelty, was looking about her in 
wide-eyed interest, and uttering little ejaculations 
of delight every few seconds. 

Isn’t it beautiful, Higgins? ” she cried, turn- 
ing to the maid. ‘‘ I didn’t know there were such 
beautiful places anywhere near New York, did 
you? ” 

‘‘It’s very pretty, miss,” returned Higgins, 
guardedly, “but hit hain’t to be compared with 
Hengland. You should see Lord Carres ford’s 
hestate. Hif you could see that. Miss Gretel, you 
might well call hit beautiful.” 

But Gretel did not look convinced. 


220 


THE PALACE OF BEAUTY 


221 


I don't see how any place can be more beau- 
tiful than this," she maintained. ‘‘ See that big 
house on the hill? It looks just like a castle, 
doesn’t it ? I wonder who lives there ? " 

“ Most likely some of the millionaires," re- 
sponded Higgins, who would have died sooner 
than admit that anything American could equal 
her beloved England. “ Hit’s a pretty place, but 
hit don’t compare with what I’ve seen hin the old 
coimtry." 

At that moment the lady in the front seat 
turned her head with the announcement — 

“ We are almost home, Gretel ; that is our place 
on the hill." 

Gretel gave a great gasp of astonishment; 
speech failed her at that moment. Even the solid 
Higgins opened her eyes in surprise, as the car 
turned in at a pair of iron gates, and in two 
minutes more had dashed up a wide avenue lined 
with beautiful old trees, and drawn up before a 
large stone house with pillars. It was the very 
house Gretel had described as looking like a 
castle." 

“ Well, how do you like it, Gretel ? " her 
brother asked, smiling, as he sprang out of the 
car, and came to help Higgins unpack their be- 
longings. 


222 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


‘‘ It’s the most beautiful place I ever saw,” de- 
clared Gretel, finding her voice at last. “ Is 
this really where you and Barbara live, and am I 
going to live here, too ? ” 

“We are going to spend the summer here, at 
any rate,” Mr. Douane answered. “ I have 
rented the place for six months.” 

“ Come in, Gretel,” said her sister-in-law, “ I 
want to show you your room.” And she led the 
way into a wide hall hung with pictures. 

“ I really believe it is a castle,” laughed Gretel, 
pausing on the threshold to gaze about her with 
eager, delighted eyes. “ I feel as if I must be a 
princess, and you and Percy are the king and 
queen.” 

“ Poor little Cinderella,” said Mrs. Douane, 
and there was a sudden dimness in her eyes, as 
she led the way up the wide staircase to the sec- 
ond floor. 

“ No, it isn’t a castle, but just a dear old house, 
filled with beautiful things. The old lady who 
owns it was a friend of my mother’s, and she has 
let us have the place just as it is. I used to visit 
here when I was a little girl, and have always 
loved the house, so when I heard that Mrs. At- 
terbury was going abroad this summer, and 


THE PALACE OF BEAUTY 


223 


wanted to rent her place, I persuaded Percy to 
come and look at it, and he was as much delighted 
as I was. We have even taken the old servants ; 
two of them have lived here for more than twenty 
years and knew me when I wasn’t as old as you. 
This is your room, right opposite mine. Come 
in and see how you like it.” 

“ Like it ! ” cried Gretel, and that was really 
all she could say just then. It was such a pretty 
room, with such lovely old furniture in it, and the 
walls were covered with charming prints and en- 
gravings. There were two big windows looking 
off toward the river, and the mountains on the 
opposite shore; and the little white bed, with its 
dainty furnishings was truly a joy to behold. But 
it was not any of these things which caused 
Gretel to spring forward, with a little cry. It 
was the sight of an old rag doll sitting in solemn 
state by one of the windows, and a row of shabby 
old books on a shelf over the writing desk. 

‘‘ They’re my own things, my own precious 
things ! ” she cried, snatching up the rag doll, and 
hugging it to her heart. ‘‘ This is my Jemima, 
that Father gave me for a Christmas present, 
when I was only seven, and there are all my dear, 
dear books and the German Bible, and every- 
thing.” 


224 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


Open the desk and see what is inside,” said 
Mrs. Douane, smiling. 

With trembling hands, Gretel opened one of 
the drawers in the writing-desk, and there lay a 
pile of old letters, tied together with a piece of 
faded blue ribbon. Gretel gave one little sob as 
she caught them up and kissed them. They were 
her greatest treasure of all; the letters from her 
father. 

‘‘ Oh, Barbara, how did you get them ? ” she 
cried, rapturously. Percy said I should have 
them again, but I didn't believe I really could. I 
was so afraid Mrs. Marsh had thrown them away. 
She said she hated keeping old things ; they clut- 
tered up drawers and made more trouble in house- 
cleaning.” 

With a sudden impulse, Mrs. Douane took her 
little sister in her arms, and kissed her. 

You dear child,” she said. Of course Mrs. 
Marsh did not throw away your treasures; she 
would not have dared to do such a thing. Percy 
wrote her from Old Point, asking her to keep 
everything until he could send for them.” 

“ Oh, I am so happy,” cried Gretel. “ I think 
Pm the happiest person in the world. Did Percy 
go to see Mrs. Marsh ? ” 

‘‘ No, he wrote to her, giving the address, and 


THE PALACE OF BEAUTY 


225 


she sent the parcel at once. Percy also received 
a note from Miss Marsh, announcing her engage- 
ment to a Mr. Pendleton. She expects to be 
married this month.’' 

Gretel looked pleased. 

‘‘ Pm glad,” she said ; I liked Mr. Pendleton ; 
he was always very kind. Once when he came 
to see Ada he brought me some chocolates.” 

‘‘Well, I am glad, too, if you are,” laughed 
Mrs. Douane, “ though I never had the pleasure 
of meeting Miss Ada. Here comes Higgins, and 
I am going to leave you to wash off some of that 
horrid dust while I get ready for dinner. Dust 
is really the only drawback to motoring.” 

But Gretel did not think that even dust could 
be considered a drawback to such a delightful 
amusement. She had never been so happy or 
excited in her life, and it was rather hard work 
to stand still and have her hair brushed and tied 
with a fresh ribbon, while there was still so much 
to see and admire in this beautiful new home. 
The past month had been a very pleasant one. 
Mr. and Mrs. Barlow had been as kind as pos- 
sible, and she and the twins had become the best 
of friends. They had remained at Old Point 
until the first of June, and then gone to Wash- 
ington for a week on their way north. Gretel 


226 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


had seen the Capitol, and the White House, and 
spent one delightful afternoon at Mount Ver- 
non, wandering about the beautiful old home of 
General Washington. They had left Washing- 
ton only that morning, and on reaching the sta- 
tion in New York, Gretel had been met by her 
brother and sister in their new touring-car. It 
had been a rather sad parting, for at the last 
moment, Geraldine — to everybody’s surprise — 
had suddenly burst into tears, and flinging her 
arms round Gretel’s neck, had positively refused 
to be parted from her friend. It was not until 
Mr. and Mrs. Douane had given the twins a most 
urgent invitation to visit Gretel in her new home, 
that Geraldine had at last consented to be tom 
away, and allow Gretel to depart with her 
family. 

The dinner that evening was another revela- 
tion to Gretel. The prettily decorated table, 
with a big bowl of roses in the center; the neat, 
white-capped maid, who waited on them, and her 
sister-in-law, looking lovelier than ever in her 
white evening dress, all combined to fill the little 
girl with wonder and admiration. 

‘‘ It is a palace, and Percy and Barbara are the 
prince and princess,” she told herself. Vm 
Cinderella, and Tve come to live with them, but 


THE PALACE OF BEAUTY 


227 


oh, how dreadful it would be if it should all come 
to an end when the clock strikes twelve/' 

‘‘What are you thinking of, Gretel?" her 
brother asked, noticing the look of sudden anx- 
iety on the child’s hitherto radiant face. 

Gretel laughed and blushed. 

“ It was very silly,” she said, “ but I couldn’t 
help it. I was thinking how perfectly wonderful 
everything was, and then just for a minute I 
thought how terrible it would be if it should all 
come to an end just as it did with Cinderella 
when the clock struck twelve.” 

Mr. and Mrs. Douane both smiled, and the 
latter said — 

“ I wouldn’t worry about it, if I were you. 
This little Cinderella has come home to stay, and 
we are all going to have a happy summer to- 
gether.” 

“ By the way, Barbara,” said Mr. Douane, 
“ I saw the man about that pony this morning. 
I am going to have you learn to ride, Gretel ; it’s 
the best exercise in the world, and we must have 
you fat and rosy before you go to school in the 
autumn.” 

It was a beautiful moonlight night, and after 
dinner they all went out on the piazza, and sat 
watching the boats on the river. It was so still 


228 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


that they could hear the band on the Albany 
steamer, as it passed, and so warm that scarcely 
a leaf stirred. Gretel would have liked to linger 
there for hours, with the two people she loved 
best in the world, but at nine o'clock her sister- 
in-law advised her to go to bed. 

“ You have been traveling all day," she said, 

and need a good night’s rest." 

‘‘ I feel so wide awake that I don’t think I 
can possibly go to sleep,’’ said Gretel, rising 
rather reluctantly, ‘‘ but I’ll try if you want me 
to." And she kissed her brother and sister good- 
night, and went up-stairs to her pretty room, 
where she found the faithful Higgins busy un- 
packing. 

Gretel had so many things to say to Higgins, 
that the process of undressing was a rather 
lengthy one, but it was over at last, and Hig- 
gins, having seen her charge safely in bed, was 
preparing to leave the room, when Gretel called 
her back. 

“ Higgins," she said a little timidly, ‘‘ I don’t 
believe you are very fond of being kissed, are 
you? ’’ 

“ I’m not much haddicted to hit," admitted 
Higgins, who was fond of using long words. 

In fact, I ’aven’t kissed any one since I said 


THE PALACE OF BEAUTY 


229 


good-by to my mother hin the hold country. 
What do you want to know for, miss? 

I was thinking that — but perhaps you’d 
rather not do it,” said Gretel, evasively. “ It’s 
only that I’m so very happy to-night, I feel as 
if I should like to kiss everybody in the world.” 

“ You mean you would like to kiss me, miss? ” 
There was something like consternation in Hig- 
gins’ voice, but she flushed all over her plain face, 
and looked for the moment really quite embar- 
rassed. 

‘‘ I should like to very much indeed if you 
wouldn’t mind,” said Gretel, and as the English 
woman bent down her face, she threw two soft 
little arms round Higgins’ neck, and kissed her 
heartily. 

Higgins did not say anything, but switched 
out the light very hurriedly, and Gretel did not 
see the tears in her eyes, or hear her murmur 
softly as she left the room — 

“ There never was a sweeter child hin this 
country or the hold one either.” 

It was quite true that Gretel was not sleepy. 
She was far too happy and excited to sleep, and 
she lay for some time, with wide open eyes, liv- 
ing over all the delightful events of the day. She 
had taken the old rag doll to bed with her, and 


230 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


slipped the packet of her father’s letters under 
her pillow. It was so good to know that all her 
treasures were safe, and in her own possession 
once more. She was just beginning to feel a 
little sleepy, when her ear caught the sound of a 
distant piano, and she started up wide awake 
again. 

It’s Barbara!” she cried joyfully. ‘‘Oh, 
what a beautiful ending to the day to hear Bar- 
bara play before I go to sleep.” 

She had no idea of doing anything wrong, or 
even unusual, as she sprang out of bed, and 
hastily putting on her wrapper and bath slippers 
— which Higgins had left on a chair by the bed- 
side — opened the door, and stole softly out into 
the hall. In the old studio days she had often 
sat up till midnight while her father and his 
friends played and sang. Yes, Barbara was 
playing, and eager to get as near as possible to 
the music she loved, Gretel went on to the head 
of the stairs. The drawing-room door was 
directly opposite the staircase, and Gretel could 
hear every note as distinctly as if she had been 
in the room. With a little sigh of utter con- 
tent, she sat down on the top stair, intending to 
enjoy another sensation of bliss before going 
back to bed again. The moonlight streaming in 


THE PALACE OF BEAUTY 


231 


through the hall window, fell across the little 
figure in the blue flannel wrapper, and rested 
softly on the child’s rapt face. 

Mrs. Douane finished the nocturne she was 
playing, and in the pause which followed, Gretel 
heard her brother say — 

‘‘ Play something from Wagner.” 

“ ril play The Swan Song from ‘ Lohengrin,’ ” 
his wife answered, and after turning over some 
music, she began a melody Gretel knew, and 
which set the child’s heart to beating fast, while 
the hot color rushed up into her cheeks. How 
well she remembered it all; the crowded opera 
house; the beautiful scene; the great orchestra, 
and the clear tenor voice of Lohengrin, singing 
the farewell to his beloved swan. Then the com- 
ing out into the cold, windy street and the shame 
and remorse that followed. 

Suddenly the music stopped. 

‘‘ What’s the matter ? ” Mr. Douane asked, in 
surprise ; ‘‘ have you forgotten it ? ” 

No, I haven’t forgotten it,” his wife an- 
swered, with something between a sob and a 
laugh, but I can’t play it to-night ; my heart is 
too full. I haven’t played Lohengrin since — 
why I don’t believe I ever told you about my 
tragic experience last winter.” 


232 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


You have told me of experiences which 
seemed to me sufficiently tragic, but what is this 
particular one ? 

“ I suppose I was foolish to take it as seriously 
as I did,” said Mrs. Douane. “ It really wasn’t 
as tragic as many other things, but it came at 
a time when I had just about reached the end of 
my tether, and you know it is always the last 
straw that breaks the camel’s back. It was in 
March, and I was about as blue and discouraged 
as any one well could be. I had been hungering 
for a little music for once, but never felt I could 
spare the money for a ticket to a concert. Then 
one day I happened to see in the paper that they 
were giving ‘ Lohengrin ’ at the Saturday mat- 
inee that week, and the temptation proved too 
great to be resisted. I struggled with my eco- 
nomical scruples for two days, and then on Fri- 
day afternoon, I let scruples go to the winds, 
went to the opera house, and bought a ticket 
for the balcony. It cost me three dollars, and 
I knew I hadn’t a dollar to waste on frivolities, 
but it was my one dissipation of the winter. 

‘‘ I hurried home with my treasure, feeling 
like a naughty child, who has stolen a piece of 
cake, and then what do you suppose I discov- 
ered?” 


THE PALACE OF BEAUTY 


233 


‘‘What?’’ inquired Mr. Douane, as his wife 
paused dramatically, and Gretel, on the stairs, 
held her breath, and leaned forward to catch 
every word. 

“ I had lost my ticket,” said Mrs. Douane, 
solemnly. 

“Lost your ticket?” repeated her husband; 
“ how did it happen — where did you put it ? ” 

“ In my purse, I thought, but it must have 
dropped out, for I found the clasp unfastened. 
I really don’t think I ever had quite such a shock 
in my life. I rushed back to the opera house, 
hoping the ticket might have been picked up and 
returned to the box office, but of course it was 
of no use. It was a very windy day, and the 
envelope may have been blown away, nobody 
knows where. There was nothing to be done 
but go home and bear the disappointment as well 
as I could.” 

“ Poor little girl,” said Mr. Douane, tenderly, 
“ I can imagine what it meant to you. I should 
like to find the fellow who picked up that ticket, 
and give him a piece of my mind. Any one 
should have known that the proper thing to do 
was to return it to the box office. Did you go 
back again? It might have been returned later, 
you know.” 


234 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


Oh, yes, I tried twice more before giving up 
all hope. Unfortunately, I did not remember 
the number of my seat, and the man at the box 
office assured me there was no hope. Whoever 
found the ticket must have used it, but perhaps 
it was never picked up at all. I think I was about 
as unhappy that night as any girl could be, but 
you know the old saying, * The darkest hour is 
always just before dawn.’ It was the very next 
day that Mrs. Barlow’s letter came, asking me 
to go to Old Point, and it was only a week later 
that you and I met; so I ought not to complain, 
ought I?” 

‘‘ Well, perhaps not, but I still maintain that 
I should like to find the person who picked up 
that ticket. It was a confoundedly dishonest 
trick not to have handed it in at the box office.” 

Mr. Douane said a good deal more, but that 
was all Gretel heard. As silently as it had come, 
the little figure on the stairs rose and slipped 
away. The child’s face was very white, and her 
eyes were big and frightened. When she reached 
her own room, she closed the door softly, and 
sank down in a little heap on the bed. She was 
trembling all over. 

It was Barbara’s ticket to fairy-land, and I 
stole it,” she whispered. ‘‘ Percy said it was a 


THE PALACE OF BEAUTY 


235 


confoundedly dishonest thing to do. Barbara 
loves ‘ Lohengrin ’ as much as I do, and she was 
poor, too. I knew I had been wicked, but I 
never knew I'd really been dishonest. I love 
Barbara better than any one in the world, and 
I stole her ticket to fairy-land ! " 

Poor little repentant Cinderella! Her happy 
day was over; the clock had struck twelve. 


I 


CHAPTER XIV 


AFTER THE CLOCK STRUCK TWELVE 

I T was still very early the next morning when 
Gretel awoke; a robin was singing on a 
tree just outside her window, but every- 
thing else was still. For the first few bewildered 
moments she could not remember where she was, 
or what had happened, and lay wondering idly 
why her head ached, and her eyes felt so stiff 
and swollen. Then it all came back with a rush ; 
the music, Barbara’s story, and those dreadful 
words of her brother’s. Afterwards the long 
hours she had lain awake, alone in the darkness, 
trying to make up her mind what she ought to 
do. She had cried herself to sleep at last, having 
finally decided upon the course of action, which 
it seemed to the poor foolish little girl, was the 
right one to take. 

I’ve got to tell them ; I’ve got to ; I’ve got 
to,” she had told herself resolutely. ‘‘ I couldn’t 
go on living here, letting them love me, and be 
good to me, and not tell them I was a dishonest 
236 


AFTER THE CLOCK STRUCK TWELVE 237 


person. Of course they won’t ever love me any 
more when they know, but I can’t help that. 
Percy will be so ashamed to have a dishonest girl 
for a sister, and Barbara won’t want to ever see 
me again.” 

It was a terrible thought, but it had to be faced. 
It never occurred to Gretel for a moment that 
the ticket she had picked up on the sidewalk, in 
front of the opera house, might not be the one 
her sister-in-law had lost. “ Lohengrin ” — the 
windy afternoon — the date — everything pointed 
too plainly to the fact that the tickets were one 
and the same. 

And now it was morning, and she must begin 
her preparations, or it would be too late to carry 
out the plan she had decided upon. If she waited 
imtil people were up, she might be stopped and 
asked awkward questions, and she must get away 
before Percy and Barbara knew — she could 
never face them after that, she would be too much 
ashamed. With as little noise as possible, she 
crept out of bed, and began putting on her 
clothes. How merrily the birds sang and how 
brightly the' sun was shining. She remembered 
that this was to have been her first day in her 
beautiful new home. But she never wavered 
for a moment in her purpose. It did not take 


238 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


long to dress, for she had decided to omit her 
usual morning bath, lest the sound of running 
water should disturb the still sleeping household. 
She was just fastening her dress when another 
sound besides the singing of the birds, broke the 
early morning stillness; the shrill whistle of a 
passing train, and she suddenly remembered that 
Percy had told her the railway station was not 
more than half a mile away. 

Pm glad it isn’t far,” she said to herself, 
with a feeling of something like relief ; “ I can 
easily walk there, and there must be plenty of 
trains going to New York. I’ve got enough 
money for a ticket. I’m glad I didn’t spend all 
the ten dollars Percy gave me the day before the 
wedding.” And she slipped into her pocket the 
pretty little silver purse her brother had given 
her. 

This done, Gretel opened the closet door, in 
quest of her hat. At sight of the row of pretty 
frocks that Higgins had unpacked the night be- 
fore, she was conscious of a sharp little stab of 
pain. 

‘‘ It’s dreadful to have to leave all those lovely 
things,” she said, with a sob. ‘‘ It doesn’t seem 
quite grateful either, when Percy was so good 
to buy them all for me, but I couldn’t stay and 


AFTER THE CLOCK STRUCK TWELVE 239 

not tell, and when he knows Fm a dishonest 
person he won’t want me anyway. Perhaps they 
can find some other girl to give the clothes to, 
who will deserve them more than I did.” 

She selected her plainest hat, and began putting 
a few necessary toilet articles into the suit case 
Higgins had left on the lowest shelf of the closet. 
Having procured a night-gown, and a fresh set 
of underclothes from the bureau drawer, she 
hesitated for a moment, and then drew the packet 
of old letters from beneath her pillow, and tucked 
it carefully away in one corner of the suit-case. 
She glanced regretfully at the row of shabby 
books, but decided it would not be possible to 
carry them, and tried to comfort herself with 
the reflection that Barbara would take care of 
them for her — Barbara was always so kind. 

Her preparations completed, Gretel sat down 
at the desk to write her confession. She selected 
a sheet of paper; dipped her pen in the ink, and 
began to write; but her fingers trembled so she 
could scarcely form the letters, and it was a very 
blotted, illegible little note that Higgins, coming 
in an hour later to wake her little charge, found 
on the desk, addressed to Mr. Percy Douane. 

“Darling Percy”: it began. 

“ When you get this I shall have gone away. 


240 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


and you and Barbara won’t ever see me any more. 
I suppose it would be much braver if I stayed and 
told you myself instead of writing, but I am not 
at all brave. 

Dear Percy, I may as well say it right away, 
I am a dishonest person. I stole Barbara’s ticket 
to fairy-land — I mean the opera. I didn’t know 
it was hers till last night, but I always knew it was 
somebody’s. I found it on the sidewalk, and I 
kept it, and went to hear Lohengrin. I knew it 
was wicked, but I wanted to hear Lohengrin more 
than anything else in the world, and I thought 
nobody would ever find out. Nobody ever did, 
but now I know it was Barbara’s ticket, I can’t 
keep the secret any longer. 

‘‘ It happened the very afternoon you came 
home. I was going to tell you once, but you said 
to let bygones be bygones, and I was so glad, be- 
cause I thought if you knew you might not love 
me, and nobody had loved me since Father died. 
If I hadn’t found out it was Barbara’s ticket I 
am afraid I might never have told, but I couldn’t 
go on living here in this beautiful place, and hav- 
ing everybody so good to me, and not have you 
know I was a dishonest person. If I didn’t tell 
now, I should be a great deal more dishonest than 
I was before. 

‘‘ I am going to some old friends of Father’s in 
New York, and I think they’ll let me stay with 
them till I can earn some money. I don’t play 
the piano at all well now, but I play much better 
than a boy I know, and he said his father was go- 


AFTER THE CLOCK STRUCK TWELVE 241 


ing to get him into vaudeville, so I think perhaps 
Fritz Lipheim can get me into vaudeville, too, and 
just as soon as I have earned three dollars I will 
send it to Barbara, to pay for that ticket. I 
heard her tell you it cost three dollars. 

Please don’t be any angrier with me than you 
can help. I know you can’t ever love me any 
more, because you love Barbara so much, and it 
was her ticket, but she is so good I think perhaps 
she will forgive me when she knows how sorry 
and ashamed I am. 

‘‘ Good-by, dear Percy ; thank you a million 
times for all the beautiful things you have done 
for me, and please try to forgive me if you pos- 
sibly can. 

“ Your loving little sister, 

“ Gretel. 

‘‘ PS. I am not taking any more clothes than 
I can help. I hope you will be able to find some 
other little girl to give them to, for I know she 
will love them as much as I did.” 

Gretel was not at all satisfied with her letter 
when she read it over, but there was no time to 
write another, for already the clock on the stairs 
was striking six, and in another half hour the 
servants would be up and about. So, having put 
the poor little confession in the most conspicuous 
place on the desk and given one more glance 
about the pretty room, which was to have been 


242 A REAL CINDERELLA 

hers, she opened her door, and stepped softly out 
into the silent hall. How very still it was; 
evidently the household was still in bed and 
asleep. Gretel stole on tiptoe past her brother’s 
closed door, and down the front stairs to the 
lower hall. The front door was fastened, but 
the key turned easily in the lock, and two minutes 
later a little figure, carrying a heavy suit-case, 
was walking rapidly down the broad avenue to 
the gate. 

It was the beginning of a very hot day, but 
as yet the air felt fresh and cool, and the sun 
only comfortably warm. How beautiful it all 
was, with the dew sparkling on the grass in the 
bright morning sunshine, and birds singing in 
every tree. Gretel paused at the gate for one 
last long look, and a big lump rose in her throat, 
but still she did not waver in her purpose. With 
one quickly suppressed sob, she turned resolutely 
away, and in another moment Cinderella had 
turned her back on the palace of beauty, and was 
trudging away down the dusty road to the sta- 
tion. 

It was still too early for many people to be 
about, and Gretel did not meet a single person 
between her brother’s house and the little country 
station, which she remembered having passed in 


AFTER THE CLOCK STRUCK TWELVE 243 


the motor-car the evening before. The station 
was closed and locked, and she was beginning to 
wonder what she should do next when a train 
came puffing up to the platform. Gretel sprang 
forward eagerly, her poor little heart pounding 
so that she could scarcely breathe. 

“Is this train going to New York?” she in- 
quired of the brakeman. 

“ Yes,” answered the man, regarding her 
rather curiously ; “ want to get on ? ” 

“I — I haven't any ticket,” faltered Gretel ; 
“ Fve got the money for one, but the station is 
shut up.” 

“ You can pay on the train,” the man assured 
her. “Hurry up if you want to get on board; 
we only stop here one minute.” 

Without another word, Gretel hastily mounted 
the steps of one of the cars, the brakeman good- 
naturedly helping her with her suit-case, glanc- 
ing behind him at the same time, as though in 
expectation of more passengers. 

“Going to New York all by yourself?” he 
inquired in some surprise. 

Gretel nodded. 

“ Pretty early in the morning to be going to 
town, ain't it? Expecting somebody to meet 
you at the Grand Central ? ” 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


244 

I am going to some friends in New York/' 
said Gretel, and there was so much dignity in her 
tone, that the brakeman decided she must be able 
to take care of herself, and asked no further ques- 
tions. 

“ It's quite true, I am going to friends," Gre- 
tel told herself, as she sank into an empty seat. 

Mrs. Lipheim is my friend, and so is Fritz. 
I know they’ll both be glad to see me, even if 
they didn’t invite me, and I haven’t heard from 
them in such a long time." 

She recalled the many acts of kindness shown 
her by Fritz Lipheim and his mother in the old 
studio days, and at the time of her father’s death. 
She had once gone to have supper with Mrs. 
Lipheim, and she remembered the cozy little flat, 
and the kind old German woman bustling about 
her neat kitchen. The thought of that supper 
reminded her of the fact that she had had no 
breakfast that morning, and she suddenly re- 
alized that she was very hungry. 

“ I'm afraid I shall be late for the Lipheims' 
breakfast," she thought a little uneasily, *‘but 
they are so kind, they’ll be sure to give me some- 
thing to eat." 

She had never forgotten the Lipheims' ad- 
dress, although she had not been there since her 


AFTER THE CLOCK STRUCK TWELVE 24S 


father’s death. She had once asked Mrs. Marsh 
if she might go to see her old friends, but that 
lady had refused so decidedly that she had never 
dared broach the subject again. Since her 
brother’s return she had not been in New York 
long enough to make calls, especially as the Lip- 
heims lived in Harlem, but Barbara had promised 
to take her some day to see her kind old friends. 
And now she was going all by herself, but under 
what sadly different circumstances from any she 
had anticipated. 

When the conductor came to collect the tickets, 
Gretel explained about the closed station, and 
taking out her purse, inquired the price of a trip 
to New York. The conductor looked at her 
much as the brakeman had done, but she seemed 
such a capable little person, and so thoroughly 
convinced of what she wanted to do, that he 
decided it was none of his business, and walked 
away, after receiving her fare, and returning the 
proper change. 

It was a slow train, and made a great many 
stops. As they neared the city, the car began to 
fill up, chiefly with men and women on their way 
to work, but no one took any particular notice of 
the solitary little girl. Gretel’s heart grew 
heavier and heavier. She heard a man in the seat 


246 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


behind her say it was half-past seven. By this 
time Higgins must have come to call her, and 
have found her letter to Percy. How shocked 
and pained they must all be when they learned 
the dreadful truth about her. Of course they 
would never want to have anything more to do 
with her now they knew her to be a dishonest 
person. A big tear splashed down on Gretel’s 
cheek, and was quickly followed by another, but 
the child brushed them away hurriedly, fearing 
the passengers might see that she was crying. 
Gretel was a proud child, and she did not want 
to be pitied or questioned by strangers. 


CHAPTER XV 

ALONE IN THE BIG CITY 

I T was eight o’clock when the train steamed 
slowly into the Grand Central, and Gretel, 
with the heavy suit-case clutched tightly in 
her arms, made her way out into the crowded 
station. The bustle and confusion bewildered 
her a little, although she had been accustomed to 
the city all her life. The roar of the elevated 
trains; the shouting of cab drivers, and the push- 
ing, jostling throngs, made her feel all at once 
very lonely, and rather frightened. Her head 
was beginning to ache, too, and she was more 
than ever conscious of the fact that she had not 
had. any breakfast. Still, it never occurred to 
her to stop and buy something to eat, although 
there was still nearly two dollars left in her 
purse. Her one thought was to reach the 
Lipheims’ flat as soon as possible. 

At the corner of Forty-second Street she 
paused for a moment. 


247 


248 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


East One Hundred and Sixth Street/’ she said 
to herself ; “ I must take the Third Avenue 
Elevated.” And she turned resolutely eastward. 

Early as it still was, the streets were almost 
unbearably hot. The air which had felt so cool 
and fresh in the country, was oppressive with 
heat and smoke, and Gretel’s suit case was very 
heavy. By the time the little girl had reached 
the elevated station, and climbed the long flight 
of stairs to the platform, she felt as tired as if 
she had been walking miles. She was fortunate, 
however, in getting a seat in a train bound for 
Harlem, and it felt cooler up there on a level 
with people’s second story windows, than it had 
done in the street below. 

The ride uptown was not unpleasant, but it 
was soon over, and then Gretel found herself 
standing on a street corner, in a part of the city 
that was quite unfamiliar to her. She felt be- 
wildered, and uncertain as to which direction she 
ought to turn. 

‘‘ I can’t remember whether it was east or west 
of Third Avenue,” she said to herself, wonder- 
ing why her head felt so uncomfortably light. 

I’ll try east first and see if the numbers are 
right.” 

She turned down a shabby street, where a great 


ALONE IN THE BIG CITY 


249 


many children were playing on the sidewalk, but 
after walking a short distance, and scanning the 
numbers of the houses, she decided that she had 
made a mistake, and should have crossed the 
avenue and gone west. So, with a sigh, she 
turned and retraced her steps to the corner. 
Having safely crossed the avenue, despite the 
constant procession of trucks and trolley cars, she 
once more began an anxious scrutiny of the 
numbers on the houses. Yes, she was right this 
time; these were the two hundreds, and two 
hundred and seventeen was the number of which 
she was in search. Her heart began to beat very 
fast again as she neared her destination. After 
all, it was a long time since she had seen or heard 
of the Lipheims. Suppose they had moved. 
Suddenly she stopped short, with a little cry of 
astonishment. 

Why, why,’' she gasped, her eyes growing 
round with dismay, “ that is the house, Tm sure, 
but — but they’re tearing it down. Nobody can 
be living there now.” 

It was too true. A gang of workmen were 
engaged in demolishing a building, which had 
evidently once been an apartment house; already 
the doors and windows had been taken out, and 
a part of the walls were down. Gretel stood 


250 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


quite still, staring stupidly before her. The shock 
was so sudden and unexpected that for the first 
few moments she could do nothing but stare in 
helpless bewilderment. Then, with a great effort, 
she pulled herself together, and approached one 
of the workmen. 

Would you please tell me if this house used 
to be two hundred and seventeen?” she inquired 
timidly. 

It was that,” the Irishman answered, good- 
naturedly, ‘‘ and it’s going to be the same number 
when it’s made over into a model apartment- 
house.” 

‘"I — I suppose you don'’! know where the 
people who used to live here have moved to?” 

I do not. Are you looking for somebody 
who used to live in two seventeen ? ” 

Gretel nodded, and the man regarded the 
white, tired little face more attentively. 

‘‘ Maybe you could find out in one of them 
stores on the comer,” he suggested, and Gretel, 
having thanked the friendly Irishman, turned, 
and once more walked back to the noisy corner. 

There was a small grocery on the comer, and 
Gretel, who had not been unfamiliar with such 
places in the old studio days, went in, and put 
her question to the young man behind the counter. 



“Would you please tell me if this house used to be two 
HUNDRED AND SEVENTEEN ? “— Page 250, 



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ALONE IN THE BIG CITY 


251 


‘‘ I am looking for some people who used to 
live in number two seventeen,” she explained; 

their name is Lipheim. I thought perhaps you 
could tell me where they have moved.” 

‘‘ Lipheim, Lipheim,” the young man repeated; 
“ I sort of remember the name, but — oh, yes, 
I know, an old German lady, who talked queer 
English ? ” 

“Yes, that’s Mrs. Lipheim,” said Gretel, ea- 
gerly, “ she speaks very broken English. Her son 
plays the violin — do you know where they live 
now? ” 

The man shook his head. 

“ Couldn’t say,” he said. “ The old lady was 
in here one day just before they began tearing 
down those houses, and she told me they were 
going somewhere in the Bronx, but she didn’t 
leave any address. Wouldn’t you like to sit 
down for a few minutes? It’s a hot morning, 
and your bag’s pretty heavy.” 

“No, thank you,” said Gretel; “you are very 
kind, but I’ve got to find Mrs. Lipheim.” And 
she turned resolutely away. 

She inquired at every store on the block, but 
always with the same discouraging result. Some 
of the shopkeepers did not remember the 
Lipheims at all; others had known them as 


252 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


customers, but nobody appeared to have the 
slightest idea where they had gone. 

What shall -I do — oh, what shall I do 
now?'’ thought Gretel, as she came out of the 
last shop, and stood looking helplessly up and 
down the avenue. “ Nobody knows where 
they've moved to, and how can I possibly find 
them? " 

But if she did not find the Lipheims, to whom 
should she go? That was the terrible question, 
and suddenly Gretel began to tremble, and her 
head felt so queer she was obliged to lean against 
a lamppost for support. 

** I'm all alone," whispered the poor child, with 
a sob, and I don’t know where to go." 

All at once, she realized that she was both very 
tired and very hungry. Still, it did not occur to 
her to buy any food. She must find somebody 
to take care of her, and help her to earn some 
money, but who was it to be? Rapidly she ran 
over in her mind the names of the few people 
she knew. There were the Barlows. Jerry and 
Geraldine would be glad to see her, and Mr. and 
Mrs. Barlow were always kind, but if they knew 
she was a dishonest person, would they want to 
have anything more to do with her? She re- 
membered Geraldine had said her mother was 


ALONE IN THE BIG CITY 


253 


very particular about what children she and Jerry 
associated with. If Mrs. Barlow knew that she 
had stolen a ticket to fairy-land, she might re- 
fuse to allow her children to associate with her, 
and, oh, she could not bear that — she would be 
so terribly ashamed. There were Mrs. Marsh and 
Ada, but she did not want to go back to them. 
Besides, it was not at all likely they would take 
her back, since Mrs. Marsh and Percy had quar- 
reled, and Percy was no longer paying her board. 
She thought of several friends of her father’s, 
who had once been kind to her, but she had no 
idea where they lived. She remembered the long 
list of maids who had come and gone during her 
year with Mrs. Marsh, but the only one among 
them for whom she had cared in the least was 
Dora Grubb. Dora had always been kind, and 
then there were Lillie and Peter. Peter must 
be in a vaudeville company by this time. Surely 
he and his family were the very people most 
likely to be able to help her now. If she only 
knew where they lived! She remembered that 
Dora had once spoken of her family as “ living 
uptown on the East Side.” It was rather vague, 
but still she might be able to find them if she 
tried very hard. This was uptown,” and it 
was also ‘‘ the East Side.” She could keep on 


254 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


walking until — well, until something happened. 
So, with a weary sigh, she clutched the heavy 
suit-case more tightly, and moved on slowly 
along the crowded, noisy street. 

It was nearly two hours later, and Gretel was 
still plodding wearily on. She had walked a 
very long way, how far she did not know. The 
part of the city she was in was quite strange to 
her, and she had no very clear idea as to just 
where* she was. The scorching June sun wa3 
beating down upon her, and it seemed to be grow- 
ing hotter every minute. She no longer felt any 
desire for food. A faint, sick feeling was creep- 
ing over her, which rendered the thought of 
breakfast anything but agreeable*. Every few 
minutes she was obliged to stop, and set her suit- 
case down on the sidewalk. She was tired, oh, 
so tired; there was no use in trying to keep the 
tears back any longer, and she let them come 
thick and fast. She had met plenty of boys and 
girls, but none among them had at all resembled 
her old acquaintances Peter and Lillie Grubb. 

There isn’t any use ; I can’t carry it any 
longer,” she said, with a sob, as she set her 
burden down for at least the tenth time in the 
past hour. “ I’ll have to leave it somewhere.” 

She looked about for a suitable hiding-place. 


ALONE IN THE BIG CITY 255 

but none presented itself. She had turned from 
a dirty cross street into a wide avenue, noisy 
with the clang of trolleys, and the roar of an 
elevated train. There was nothing to be done 
but leave the suit-case where she was, even at 
the risk of its being carried off long before she 
could come back for it. But first she would 
secure her greatest treasure; the packet of old 
letters. So, having removed the precious pack- 
age, and slipped it into her pocket — which was 
fortunately a large one — she resigned the suit- 
case to its fate, and prepared to resume her hope- 
less quest. 

There was a> dull pain in her head, and queer 
lights were beginning to dance before her eyes, 
which at times prevented her seeing very clearly 
where she was going. Suddenly she realized that 
she was walking on the sunny side of the street, 
and that if she crossed the avenue she would be 
in the shade. How stupid she had been not to 
think of that before. She would go over to the 
shade, and sit down somewhere to rest for a 
little while. Perhaps when she had rested she 
would feel better. So, with one regretful glance 
at the suit-case, which must be left behind, she 
stepped off the curb and started to cross the 


avenue. 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


256 

A small boy with his hands in his pockets, was 
sauntering slowly down the shady side of 
Second Avenue. It was much too hot to walk 
fast, and besides, he was in no hurry. It was not 
yet eleven o’clock, and he dared not present him- 
self before his mother and sisters until noon. For 
this was a school day, and he had not appeared 
at the school building at the usual morning hour. 
In plain English, he was playing truant. He 
had decided that a swim at one of the free baths 
would be much more agreeable than spending 
three hours in a stuffy school-room on that hot 
morning, but his mother was not a believer in 
‘‘ the law of love,” and consequently, he was not 
anxious to be seen by his family before the noon 
lunch hour. 

The. swim had proved most refreshing, but 
one was not allowed to remain in the free baths 
for an indefinite period, and hence it was that he 
found himself wandering aimlessly down Second 
Avenue at eleven o’clock in the morning, with 
nothing particular to do for the next hour. 

Suddenly his attention was attracted by a small 
crowd gathered on a comer and he quickened 
his steps, in the hope, of discovering something 
of interest. 

‘'I bet it’s an accident,” he remarked aloud. 


ALONE IN THE BIG CITY 


2S7 


with a brightening face. He was not at all a 
cruel boy, but an accident meant an excitement, 
and excitement was what Peter Grubb craved 
more than anything else in the world. 

It is an accident,” he added, as he drew 
nearer the scene of action ; “ the cars are stopped ; 
somebody must have got run over.” And he 
quickened his pace to a run. 

“What’s up?” he demanded breathlessly of 
another youth of about his own age, as he shoul- 
dered his way through the crowd. 

“ Kid got knocked down by a trolley car,” was 
the answer ; “ they’ve carried her into the drug 
store, and there’s been an ambulance call.” 

Peter’s heart began to beat faster. Not that 
he felt any particular interest in the unfortunate 
“ kid,” but to see some one taken off to the hos- 
pital in an ambulance was always an exciting ex- 
perience, and one that could be related afterwards 
to a group of interested friends. So he wasted 
no more time in asking questions, but made his 
way through the open door of the drug store, 
round which a sympathizing crowd was hover- 
ing. 

It did not take Peter long to see what had hap- 
pened. They had laid the injured child on the 
counter, and some one was trying to stanch the 


/ 


258 A REAL CINDERELLA 

blood, which flowed from a deep cut on her fore- 
head. Her eyes were closed, and she lay very 
still. 

Is she killed ? ’’ Peter inquired in a rather 
awed whisper. 

No, we don’t think so,” answered the man 
to whom he put the question. “ I saw it happen, 
and the motor-man got the brakes on just in 
time. She’s badly hurt, though, I’m afraid ; 
there’s an ugly cut on her head, and she was 
unconscious when we picked her up.” 

‘‘ Does anybody know who the little girl is ? ” 
somebody asked. 

A policeman, who was among the crowd in the 
doorway, stepped forward. 

‘‘ She don’t live anywhere round here,” he 
said ; ‘‘ I know all the kids in this neighborhood, 
and I never laid eyes on her before. She’s got 
good clothes on; looks as if she might have come 
over from the West Side.” 

Peter edged his way nearer to the counter. 
The little figure lay so very still that he was be- 
ginning to feel uncomfortable. He would just 
take one look, and then run away. Suddenly he 
uttered an exclamation of astonishment, and 
turned excitedly to the interested spectators. 


ALONE IN THE BIG CITY 259 

Hello ! Oh, I say ! I know who she is ; Tve 
seen her before/' 

“Where does she live?" half a dozen voices 
inquired at once, and all eyes were turned upon 
the excited Peter. 

“ Why," said Peter, looking very much be- 
wildered, “ it’s the funniest thing I ever knew. 
I can’t make out what she was doing around here. 
My sister used to work for her folks ; their name 
is Marsh, and they live away down Broadway, 
opposite the opera house." 


CHAPTER XVI 


FROM SHADOW TO SUNSHINE 

S OME one was playing the Swan song from 
‘‘Lohengrin”; it was very beautiful, but 
it sounded so far away. Gretel wanted to 
get nearer to the music. She tried to rise, but 
there was such a heavy weight on her feet that 
she could not move. Then the music changed to 
the roar of an elevated train, and she felt the hot 
sun beating down upon her head. Oh, how ter- 
ribly hot it was, and she was so thirsty, too. If 
some one would only give her a drink of water, 
but when she tried to ask for it her tongue refused 
to form the words. The cruel sun was burning 
her up. There must be shade somewhere. She 
would cross the street and try to find it, but what 
would become of her bag? She was too tired to 
carry it any longer. How those elevated trains 
roared. She was afraid to move, yet she must 
get into the shade. She made another feeble 
effort to move, and then something soft and cool 
was laid on her forehead, and a voice that 
260 


FROM SHADOW TO SUNSHINE 


261 


sounded as if it came from a great way off 
said — 

Lie still, dear; you are quite safe here.” 

Gretel tried to explain about the sun, but the 
words would not come right, and she gave it up 
in despair. She liked the soft, cool thing on her 
forehead, but the trouble was it did not stay cool 
long enough. Everything was hot, burning hot. 
If somebody would only give her some cold water 
to drink, but when at last, a glass was held to 
her lips, and she tried to swallow, the water, like 
everything else, seemed hot, and it did not quench 
her thirst. 

There was pain, too, dreadful pain all over her, 
and every time she tried to move into a more 
comfortable position, some force seemed to hold 
her still. At last she found that she could speak, 
and then she began to call piteously for Percy 
and Barbara; Jerry and Geraldine; and Higgins, 
but nobody answered — nobody seemed to under- 
stand. She could see faces — so many faces — 
but there was not one among them, that she knew. 
Once she was sure she heard some one crying, 
and for a moment she thought it was Barbara, 
but when she looked again a strange face was 
bending over her, and a lady dressed in white. 


262 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


with a cap on her head, was offering her some- 
thing to drink. 

Gradually she began to remember things in a 
vague, confused way. She remembered going 
to New York on the train, and trying to find the 
Lipheims. Was she still in the street, she won- 
dered? If so, it had grown strangely quiet and 
cool. She was no longer burning up, only she 
was so very tired. She must have walked a long 
way, and then — what had happened? There 
had been a great noise of shouting, and something 
big had come terribly close to her, and after that 
she did not remember any more. 

While she was still pondering on this subject, 
in a weak, half conscious way, some one bent 
over her, and she saw again the lady in the white 
dress and cap. The lady did not speak, but she 
smiled, and her smile was pleasant, and somehow 
reassuring. Then she put something that looked 
like a tube under Gretel’s tongue, and when she 
took it out again, she looked pleased, and said to 
some one, the little girl could not see — 

She is much better; the fever has gone down 
to a hundred and one. That is a great gain over 
yesterday.’' 

Gretel wanted to say that she understood, and 
to ask some questions, but she was so tired that it 


FROM SHADOW TO SUNSHINE 


263 


seemed easier just to lie still with her eyes shut. 
She drifted off into a dream, in which she seemed 
to hear Percy and Barbara talking about 
“ Lohengrin.’’ 

“Poor little girl; poor little kiddie.” Yes, 
that was surely Percy’s voice, and it did not sound 
angry either, only very sorry. Gretel did not 
open her eyes, but she tried to remember things. 
Why was her brother sorry, and why had she ex- 
pected him to be angry? It was something — 
about — about being a dishonest person. Ah, she 
remembered all about it now, and with a sharp 
little cry, she started up, fully conscious at last. 

“ I stole Barbara’s ticket to fairy -land,” she 
wailed. “ Percy said I was a dishonest person. 
I didn’t mean to be dishonest; I didn’t — I 
didn’t!” 

“ Hush, Gretel darling, lie still ; everything is 
all right. There, there, don’t cry; see, Percy 
and I are here ; we have come to take care of our 
little girl.” 

“ Did you get my letter, Barbara? ” whispered 
Gretel, as she nestled in her sister’s arms, and 
gazed lovingly into the sweet face bending over 
her. 

“ Yes, dearest, but, oh, my poor, foolish little 
Gretel, how could you do such a dreadful thing as 


264 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


to run away and leave us? Didn’t you know 
how much Percy and I loved you ? ” 

“ I thought you wouldn’t love me any more 
when you knew how wicked I had been,” said 
Gretel, humbly. “ I thought I would go to the 
Lipheims, and ask Fritz to get me a place with 
those vaudeville people Peter Grubb was going 
with, but they had moved, and I couldn’t find 
them. Then it got so hot, and I was so dread- 
fully tired, and — ” 

“We know all about it, dear; don’t talk; just 
lie still and get well. We won’t leave you until 
you are able to come home, and then we shall all 
be so happy again.” 

“ And you are not angry — you really can for- 
give me? ” 

Barbara did not answer in words, but her 
kisses and her happy tears were all the assurance 
Gretel needed. 

“And will Percy forgive me, too?” she whis- 
pered timidly. 

“ There isn’t anything to forgive, Pussy,” said 
Mr. Douane huskily, as he bent to kiss the pale, 
wistful little face. 

“ But I really was a dishonest person,” per- 
sisted Gretel, feverishly ; “ are you sure you want 
a dishonest person to live in your house? ” 


FROM SHADOW TO SUNSHINE 265 

“ Quite sure, little girl ; home wouldn’t be home 
without our Gretel.” 

Gretel gave a long sigh of utter content, and 
her eyelids drooped. In another moment she had 
fallen asleep. 

When Gretel awoke after a long, refreshing 
nap, her brother had gone away, but Barbara was 
still in the room, and she and the lady in the white 
cap were having a whispered conversation by the 
window. Gretel lay watching them in silence for 
several minutes. She was very happy, but she 
did not feel much like talking just yet. Slowly 
she began to take in the details of her surround- 
ings. She was in a small, plainly furnished 
room, and an electric fan was waving gently over 
her bed. She wondered where she could be, but 
decided that it did not really matter so long as 
Barbara was there, too, and just then her sister- 
in-law glanced in her direction, and discovered 
that she was awake. 

‘‘Where are we, Barbara?” Gretel asked a 
few minutes later, when Mrs. Douane was sitting 
by her bedside, and the lady in the white cap had 
given her something to drink, which tasted very 
good. 

“ We are in a hospital in New York. They 
brought you here after your accident.” 


266 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


Accident ? ” repeated Gretel, looking puzzled ; 
did I have an accident ? Oh, yes, I know ; I 
was crossing the street, and something very big 
came close to me, and then I don’t remember any 
more. Was I run over? ” 

‘‘You were knocked down by a trolley car, and 
badly hurt, but you are ever so much better now, 
and you will be quite well again soon.” 

“How did you and Percy find me?” was 
Gretel’ s next question. She was beginning to 
feel a good deal more interest in things than she 
had felt a few hours earlier. 

“ Why, dearest, it was all quite wonderful. If 
I tell you about it will you try to lie still, and 
not ask any more questions? The doctor says 
you must be kept very quiet or the fever may 
come back.” 

Gretel promised that she would be very good, 
and Mrs. Douane went on to explain. 

“ When Higgins came to call you, and found 
your room empty, she was very much surprised, 
especially when she discovered that your suit- 
case had also disappeared. Then she saw your 
letter on the desk, and went to call Percy and me. 
You said you were going to some old friends in 
New York, and the only people we could think of 
were Mrs. Marsh and her daughter. Percy 


FROM SHADOW TO SUNSHINE 


267 


started for New York as soon as he could, and in 
the meantime we telephoned Mrs. Marsh, telling 
her what had happened, and asking her to com- 
municate with us the moment you arrived. As 
soon as Percy reached the city he went at once to 
Mrs. Marsh’s, hoping to find you there, but of 
course they knew nothing about you, and he was 
just starting off to put the case in the hands of 
the police, when a telephone message came, saying 
you had been hurt, and were to be taken to this 
hospital. And here comes the wonderful part of 
the story. When you were lying unconscious in 
a drug store, you were recognized by a little boy, 
who gave his name as Peter Grubb. He said he 
knew where you lived, and gave Mrs. Marsh’s 
address to the people at the store, who at once 
communicated with us.” 

How very interesting,” said Gretel. “ Peter 
Grubb was the very person I was trying to find 
when I couldn’t find the Lipheims, but I hadn’t 
any idea where he lived, except that it was uptown 
on the East Side. I thought perhaps he might 
be able to tell me how to get into vaudeville. Oh, 
Barbara dear, you can’t think what a comfort it 
is to know you really don’t mind seeing me again, 
even when you know how wicked I was.” 

Why, Gretel, how could you think such 


268 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


dreadful things? Percy and I have been here 
ever since we heard of your accident, only you 
were too ill to know us. It has been a very sad 
time, but it is all over now, so shut your eyes, and 
try to go to sleep again. I see Miss Simpson is 
beginning to look as if she thought I was letting 
you talk too much.” 

It was an afternoon a week later, and Gretel 
was sitting bolstered up with pillows in the arm- 
chair by the window. She was still very pale and 
thin, but was gaining strength each day, and that 
morning the doctor had removed the last strip of 
plaster from her forehead. Miss Simpson — the 
white-capped nurse — was reading aloud to her, 
and on the table was a big bowl filled with beauti- 
ful roses, which had arrived only an hour before 
from Mr. Douane’s place on the Hudson. Gretel 
looked the picture of content, as she leaned back 
among her pillows, listening to the adventures 
of Tom Sawyer. She had grown very fond of 
kind Miss Simpson, and her days at the big hos- 
pital had been anything but unpleasant. 

A knock at the door brought the reading to a 
sudden pause, and in answer to Miss Simpson's 
‘‘ Come in,” an official appeared with a card, 
which he handed to the nurse. 


FROM SHADOW TO SUNSHINE 


269 


‘‘ Some friends have come to see you, Gretel,’’ 
said Miss Simpson, glancing at the card. “ I 
think they must be the children who sent ‘ Tom 
Sawyer ’ ; Jerry and Geraldine Barlow.” 

“ Oh, I should love to see them,” cried Gretel, 
eagerly. ‘‘May they come in. Miss Simpson?” 

Miss Simpson said they certainly might, and 
that she would go to the reception room, and 
bring them herself. She disappeared for a few 
moments, and when she returned she was closely 
followed by the twins, both looking very much 
awed, and almost pretematurally solemn. 

At sight of Gretel, with all her hair cut off, and 
a big scar over one temple, they became so pain- 
fully embarrassed, that neither of them spoke a 
word, and, contrary to the usual order of things, 
she was forced to make all the advances. 

“ I’m so glad to see you both,” she said, cor- 
dially. “Won’t you sit down?” 

The twins took the chairs Miss Simpson placed 
for them, still in the same embarrassed silence, 
and the nurse, thinking the children might feel 
more at their ease if left to themselves, went out 
of the room, after telling Gretel to ring the little 
bell at her side if she wanted anything. Then 
Jerry found his tongue, and remarked in his 
gruffest tones — 


270 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


We’re ever so glad you’re better.” 

‘‘You really are better, aren’t you?” inquired 
Geraldine, anxiously. 

“ Oh, yes, indeed ; I’m almost well. I’m to go 
home the day after to-morrow. Percy is com- 
ing for me in the automobile. He and Barbara 
have stayed here most of the time, but since I’ve 
been so much better they have gone home at night. 
Barbara was here all this morning; I’m sorry 
you didn’t come in time to see her.” 

“ You’ve been dreadfully ill,” said Geraldine, 
solemnly. 

“ I suppose I was at first, but I didn’t know any- 
thing about how ill I was till I began to get bet- 
ter.” 

“ Too bad you had to have your hair cut off,” 
observed Jerry, in a tone of regret. 

“ Oh, Miss Simpson says it will soon grow 
again,” Gretel assured him cheerfully. “ The 
scar on my forehead won’t show so much then 
either. It’s rather pleasant to have short hair in 
this hot weather. Have you gone to the country 
yet ? ” 

“ No, but we’re going to-morrow ; that’s why 
we came to see you this afternoon. Mother 
brought us, and she’s coming back in half an hour. 
She sent her love.” 


FROM SHADOW TO SUNSHINE 271 

‘‘ Mother cried about you when you were so 
ill,” said Geraldine. “You see, she was afraid 
you were going to die. I cried, too, and I think 
Jerry did, though he didn’t want anybody to see 
him do it.” 

“ I did not,” declared Jerry, indignantly, and 
he grew so red, and looked so uncomfortable that 
Gretel hastened to change the subject by say- 
ing— 

“ I want to thank you for all those nice books 
you sent. Miss Simpson is reading ‘ Tom Saw- 
yer ’ to me now, and it’s very interesting.” 

“ Tom had some fine adventures, didn’t he? ” 
said Jerry, eagerly. He was very glad to steer 
the conversation safely away from the subject of 
tears. “ I wish we could be lost in a cave, and 
go for pirates.” 

“ I don’t,” declared Geraldine, with conviction. 
“ I think one adventure is quite enough for any 
person to have, and I’ve given Mother a solemn 
promise never to frighten her again, and I mean 
to keep my word.” 

“ Gretel had a bigger adventure than any of 
us,” said Jerry, not without a shade of envy in 
his tone. “ It must have been awfully exciting 
to get knocked down by a trolley car, and be taken 
to a hospital in an ambulance, only I shouldn’t 


272 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


like to have to stay in bed for such a long time 
afterwards.” 

“ But I didn’t go away to have an adventure,” 
said Gretel, reddening ; ‘‘ I went because — be- 
cause — ” 

'‘We know,” said Geraldine; "Mrs. Douane 
told Mother, and she told us. She talked about 
it for a long time one night after we’d said our 
prayers.” 

" Did she think I was a very dreadful person? ” 
inquired Gretel, rather tremulously. " I’m afraid 
people won’t ever like me any more when they 
know how wicked I was, even though Percy and 
Barbara have forgiven me, and say they love me 
just the same.” 

" Mother doesn’t think you at all wicked,” pro- 
tested Geraldine ; " that isn’t the reason why she 
talked to us. She thinks you were very brave to 
confess the way you did, and she hopes we should 
be just as brave if we ever did anything naughty 
that nobody knew about but ourselves.” 

" Did your mother really say that ? ” demanded 
Gretel, her face brightening. " You aren’t mak- 
ing it up just to make me feel comfortable? ” 

"We don’t tell things that aren’t true,” re- 
turned Geraldine, indignantly, and Jerry added — 
" Mother truly did say it, and a lot more, too. 


FROM SHADOW TO SUNSHINE 


m 


She's awfully fond of you, and so is Father. 
They were dreadfully worried when they thought 
you were — I mean when you were so ill." 

Gretel gave a long happy sigh. 

‘‘ It's beautiful to have every one so kind and 
forgiving," she said ; “ but even if nobody ever 
punished me or scolded me, I shall always know 
myself how wicked I was." 

Gretel’s pale cheeks had grown suddenly very 
pink, but her honest eyes looked straight into her 
friends' as she spoke, and the twins were both 
much impressed. 

“ I guess that's what Mother means when she 
talks about our learning things by experience," 
said Geraldine, with a sudden inspiration. “ She 
said your pimishment was much greater than if 
you had been deprived of things, or locked in your 
room. It was all because of your conscience, you 
know. I think consciences are rather horrid 
things, don't you ? " 

‘‘ But suppose you hadn't told ; nobody would 
ever have known anything about it," said Jerry 
reflectively. 

“ I had to tell," said Gretel, simply. ‘‘ It was 
Barbara's ticket, and she and Percy were being 
good to me every minute. You would have told, 
too, Jerry, I know you would." 


274 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


Jerry looked uncomfortable. 

‘‘ Well, I guess I’d have felt pretty mean if I 
hadn’t,” he admitted. ‘‘ I wonder if the Law of 
Love isn’t the best way, after all. It makes you 
feel so ashamed when you’re not punished for 
things you know you ought to be.” 

‘‘Of course it is,” chimed in Geraldine; 
“ Mother always knows the best way of doing 
things. But she doesn’t read those books any 
more. She says she thinks she’s found out how 
to do it herself. I guess the Mind Cure is all 
right too. Perhaps if we’d kept on believing we 
wouldn’t have been seasick that day, we might 
have been all right. Anyhow, God took care of 
ns when we asked Him to, and he took care of 
Gretel.” 

“Yes, indeed He did!” cried Gretel, with 
shining eyes. “ Just think how wonderful it all 
was. If Peter Grubb hadn’t happened to be right 
there, nobody would have known where I was, 
and Percy and Barbara might never have found 
me. We are all very grateful to Peter. Barbara 
found out where he lived, and went to see his 
mother. She brought them all some cream-puffs, 
because I told her how very fond Lillie was of 
them, and they were so pleased. Peter didn’t get 


FROM SHADOW TO SUNSHINE 


275 


taken into the vaudeville company after all. 
They didn’t think he had enough talent. Now he 
thinks he’ll be either a fireman or a boy scout in- 
stead. But the nicest part of it all is that Bar- 
bara has engaged Dora to be our chambermaid. 
Dora is so happy, for she says she has never had a 
really good place, and she hates being a maid of 
all work. I’m so glad I’m going to see her 
again, for she was the first person who was kind 
to me at Mrs. Marsh’s.” 

The children chatted on for another fifteen 
minutes, and then Miss Simpson came to tell them 
their mother had called for them, and the friends 
had to say good-by. 

“ But it won’t be for so very long,” said Gretel, 
cheerfully. You know you are coming to make 
us a long visit in September. It’s almost July 
now.” 

Yes, and I’m going to write you a long letter 
every week all summer,” promised Geraldine, 
resolutely choking down a rising lump in her 
throat. ‘‘ Mother says if we read a little history, 
and write a letter to somebody every day, we 
needn’t have any more lessons till we come back 
to New York. Isn’t that splendid? We were 
so afraid we were going to have another old 


276 


A REAL CINDERELLA 


teacher. Not that Miss Heath was really old, but 
then, you see, we don’t care much for teachers, 
except when they’re not teaching.” 

‘‘What are you thinking of, Gretel?” Miss 
Simpson asked, with a smile, as she brought her 
little patient a glass of milk, when the visitors had 
gone. “ You look as if you were very happy 
about something.” 

“ I am,” said Gretel, softly. “ I was just 
thinking how many lovely people there are in the 
world, and how beautiful it is to be loved.” 


THE END 


Only Doilie 

By Nina Rhoadbs Illustmted by BerthA DevkIsob 
S quare i 2 mo Cloth $1.00 

'T*HIS is a brightly written story of a girl of 
* twelve, who, when the mystery of her birth 
(t solved, like Cii^erella, passes from drudgery to 
better circumstances. There is nothing strained 
|or unnatural at any point. All descriptions or 
portrayals of character are life-like^, and the 
book has an indescribable appealing quality 
which wins sympathy and secures success. 

• “it is deli^tful reading at all times.’* — Cedar 
Rapids (la.) Republican, 

I '* It is well written, the story runs smoothly, the idea 
is good, and it is handled with ability.— 

Journal, 

The Little Oirl Next Door 

By Nina Rhoadbs Large i2mo Cloth Illustrated 
by Bertha Davidson $1.00 

A DELIGHTFUL story of true and genuine friendship between an 
impulsive little girl in a Hne N'^w York home and a little blind girl 
in an apartment next doer. The little girl’s determination to cultivate 
the acquaintance, begun out of the window during a rainy day, triumphs 
Dver the barriers of caste, and the little blind girl proves to be in every 
iray a worthy companion. Later a mystery of birth is cleared up, and the 
Sttle blind girl proves to be of gentle birth as well as of gentle manners. 

Winifred’s Neighbors 

By Nina Rhoadbs Illustrated 
by Bertha G. Davidson Large 
i2mo Cloth $1.00 

T ITTLE Winifred’s efforts to find some 
•I—* children of whom she reads in a book 
lead to the acquaintance of a neighbor 
of the same name, and this acquaintance 
proves of the greatest importance to Winifred’s 
own family. Through it all she is just such a 
little girl as other girls ought to know, and 
Ika'Story will hold the interest of all ages. 

fjr by all booksellers^ or sent pos^ui on rece\M 

of price by the publishert 

M)THUOP» LBB 6: SHEPARD BOSTON 




The Children on the Top Floot 

By Nina Rhoades Large 12 mo 
Cloth Illustrated by Bertha 
Davidson $1.00 

P this book little Winifred Hamilton, the 
child heroine of “Winifred’s Neighbors,’* 
reappears, living in the second of the four 
stories of a New York ipartment house. On 
the top floor are two very interesting children, 

Betty, a little older than Winifred, who is now 
ten, and Jack, a brave little cripple, who is a 
year younger. In the end comes a glad re- 
union, and also other good fortune for crippled 
Jack, and Winifred’s kind little heart has once 
more indirectly caused great happiness to others. 

How Barbara Kept Her Promise 

By Nina Rhoades Large i2mo Cloth Illustrated 
by Bertha Davidson $1.00 

T WO orphan sisters, Barbara, aged twelve, and little Hazel, who is 
“only eight,’’ are sent from their early home in London to their 
mother’s family in New York. Faithful Barbara has promised her father 
that she will take care of pretty, petted, mischievous Hazel, and how she 
tries to do this, even in the face of great difiiculties, forms the story which 
has the happy ending which Miss l^oades wisely gives to all her stories. 

Little Miss Rosamond 

_-i. ■ i 

By Nina Rhoades Illus- 
trated by Bertha G. Davidson 
Large i 2 mo Cloth $1.00 

OOSAMOND lives in Richmond, Va., 
with her big brother, who cannot 
give her all the comfort that she needs in 
the tiying hot weather, and she goes to the 
seaside cottage of an uncle whose home 
is in New York. Here she meets Gladys 
and Joy, so well known in a previous 
book, “The Little Girl Next Door,’* and 
after some complications are straightened 
out, bringing Rosamond’s honesty and 
kindness of heart into prominence, all are made very happy. 

For saU by all booksellers or sent postpaid on receipt 
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** Brick House Books” 

By NINA RHOADES 

Clotb 12mo Illustrated $1,00 each 


Priscilla of the 

Doll Shop 

'^HE ** Brick House Books,’* as they are 
called from their well-known cover de- 
signs, are eagerly sought by children all over 
the country. There are three good^stories in 
this book, instead of one, and it is hard to 
say which little girls, and boys, too, for that 
matter, will like the best. 

Brave Little Peggy 



■pEGGY comes from California to New Jersey to live with a brother and 
sister whom she has not known since very early childhood. She is so 
democratic in her social ideas that many amusing scenes occur, and it is 
hard for her to undei stand many things that she must learn. But her good 
heart carries her through, and her conscientiousness and moral courage 
win affection and happiness. 



The Other Sylvia 

|r IGHT-year-old Sylvia learns that girls who 
are Kings’ Daughters” pledge themselves 
to some kind act or service, and that one little 
girl named Mary has taken it upon herself to be 
helpful to all the Marys of her acquaintance. 
This is such an interesting way of doing good that 
she adopts it in spite of her unusual name, and 
really finds not only “ the other Sylvia,” but great 
happiness. 


Por sale by all booksellers or seat postpaid on receipt of 
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DOROTHY, BROWN 

By NINA RHOADES 

Illustrated by Elizabeth Withington Large 12mo 
Cloth $1.50 

^HIS is considerably longer than the other 
* books by this favorite writer, and with a 
more elaborate plot, but it has the same win- 
some quality throughout. It introduces the 
heroine in New York as a little girl of eight, 
but soon passes over six years and finds her at 
a select family boarding school in Connecticut. 
An important part of the story also takes place 
at the Profile House in the White Mountains. 
The charm of school-girl friendship is finely 
brought out, and the kindness of heart, good 
sense and good taste which find constant ex- 
pression in the books by Miss Rhoades do not 
lack for characters to show these best of 
qualities by their lives. Other less admirable 
persons of course appear to furnish the alluring mystery, which is not 
all cleared up until the very last. 

“There will be no better book than this to put into the hands of a girl in 
her teens and none that will be better appreciated by httr.*’— Kennebec Journal. 

MARION’S VACATION 

By NINA RHOADES 

Illustrated by Bertha G. Davidson 12ino Cloth $1.25 

T^HIS book is for the older girls, Marion 
* being thirteen. She has for ten years 
enjoyed a luxurious home in New York with 
the kind lady who feels that the time has now 
come for this aristocratic though lovable little 
miss to know her own nearest kindred, who 
are humble but most excellent farming people 
in a pretty Vermont village. Thither Marion 
is sent for a summer, which proves to be a 
most important one to her in all its lessons. 

“ More wholesome reading for half grown girls 
It would be hard to find; some of the same lessons 
that proved so helpful in that classic of the last 

f eneration ‘An Old Fashioned Girl* are brought 
ome to the youthful readers of this sweet and 
sensible Biory,**~-~Milvfaukee Free Press. 


For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of 
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THE DOROTHY DAINTY SERIES 

By AHY BROOKS 

iLarge 12rao Cloth Illustrated by the Author 
Price, $1.00 each 

Dorothy Dainty 
Dorothy* s Playmates 
Dorothy Dainty at School 
Dorothy Dainty at the Shor^ 

Dorothy Dainty in the City 
Dorothy Dainty at Home 
Dorothy Dainty*s Qay Times 
Dorothy Dainty in the Country 
Dorothy Dainty*s Winter 
Dorothy Dainty in the Mountains 
Dorothy Dainty* s Holidays 
Dorothy Dainty* s Vacation 

'* Little Dorothy Dainty is one of the most generous-hearted of 
children. Selfishness is not at all a trait of hers, and she knows the value 
of making sunshine, not alone in her own heart, but for her neighbor- 
hood and friends.** — Boston Courier, 

“ Dorothy Dainty, a little girl, the only child of wealthy parents, 
is an exceedingly interesting character, and her earnest and interesting 
life is full of action and suitable adventure.**— Christian Ad^ 
vocatt. 


“No finer little lady than Dorothy Dainty 
was ever placed in a book for children.**— 
Teachers' Journal^ Pittsburg, 

“Miss Brooks is a popular writer for 
the very little folks who can read. She 
has an immense sympathy for the children, 
and her stories never fail to be amusing.**— 
Rochester (//. Y.) Herald.. 




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THE PRUB BOOKS 

By ArtY BROOKS 

Illustrated by the Author 12ino Cloth Price, $1.00 each 


RUNNING little Prue,one of the most 
^ winsome little girls ever ** put in a 
book,” has already been met in another 
series where she gave no small part ot 
the interest. She well deserved books' 
of her own for littie girls of her age, 
and they are now ready with everything 
in the way of large, clear type, and 
Miss Brooks’s best pictures and her 
pleasing cover designs to make them 
attractive. 

Little Sister Prue Prue’s Merry Times 
Prue at School Prue’s Little Friends 

Prue’s Playmates Prue's Jolly Winter 

Miss Brooks always brings out the best 
ways of acting and living and provides a good 
deal of ' humor in her original country char- 
acters. Watchmant Boston. 

“Few writers have ever possessed the 
faculty of reaching the hearts and holding the 
interest of little girl readers to tne extent Miss 
Brooks has. ' * '■^Kennebec yournaly A tigusiayAfe. 

“To know Prue is to love her, for no 
more winsome little girl was ever put in i; book, 
and her keen wit and unexpected drolleries 
make her doubly attractive .” — Kindergarten Magazine, 


Por Male by all booksellers or sent postpaid oa receipt 
ot price by the publishers 

LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON 





LITTLE RED HOUSE SERIES 

By AHANDA H. DOUGLAS 
Illustrated by Louise Wyman 12mo Cloth 
Price, Net, $1.00 each Postpaid, $1.10 


THE CHILDREN IN THE LITTLE 
OLD RED HOUSE 



T he very title of this book gives promise of 
a good story, and when we know that there 
are eight of these children, as loving as they are 
lively, there can be no doubt of the good things 
in store for the reader. Their efforts to help the 
dearest of mothers, their merriment, which no 
poverty can subdue, and the great and well- 
deserved good fortune which comes to them, 
move us in rapid succession to sympathy, amuse- 
ment, and delight. 

“ It is a sunshiny story of the best things in life. 
Men and women today need such stories quite as much 
as the children. It is as quaint as the “Pepper Books’* 
for little folks, but carries a deeper treasure for older 
people .” — Universalist Leader, 


THE RED HOUSE CHILDREN 
AT QRAFTON 


E ight bright children, with a kind and 
loving mother, make up the Red House 
family, and the change to better circumstances 
through a new father, and a good one, does 
not in the least “spoil” them. There is some 
doubt on the part of a few of their new neigh- 
bors as to whether these numerous brothers and 
sisters will be good to know, but all who meet 
them are speedily won^to friendship. Fun and 
frolic in plenty are a part of their wholesome 
development, and the story does not drag for 
a moment. 

“It is filled with fun and frolic, and yet has a ten- 
dency to carry the children’s minds to higher and 
better things.”— Commercial, 



THE RED-HOUSE 
CHILDREN AT 
GRAFTON 


Por sale by all booksellers or seat postpaid on receipt of 
price by the pubiisbers 

LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON 


Fifty Flower Friends 

With Familiar Faces 

By Bonn OUmAM 

h FIELD BOOK FOR BOYS AND GIRLS 

With twelve full-page colored plates, decorations and fifty tcjw 
illustrations from nature by W, I. BEECROFT $1.50 



^HILDREN cannot too soon begin to 
know the wild fiowers, and here they 
are told in a charming way where and when 
to look for each of fifty widely distributed 
common flowering plants; also how they get 
their names, and how to know them from the 
remarkably accurate drawings of Mr. Beecroft, 
a skilled botanist and superior artist. Each 
of the fifty flowers has a page of accurate 
botanical description in addition to its story. 
Thus the book is suited for varying ages. 


‘•'Fhe greatest praise can be bestowed noon and every mother and father should 
have one and by It better educate their children in nature, which will prove not 
only an enpyable study, but an instructive one.'*— J^rovidence News^ 


** Good brief descriptions, g’ood clear pictures, portraits almost, of each flower 
friend, a beautiful cover, convenient arrangement, and tine large print, make a 
perfect book to own, or to give to any one, especially a thUdv'^Universaltst 
Leader, 


rlFTY 

> FLOWER. 

^-^SfC^FAMlLTAR 
Faces 



AFlflDSfDK^rbOYSAW GIRLS 

BY 

EDITH DUNHAM 


** If the children do not learn something new about flowers this cummer it may 
be rxecause their nnkind parents have not bought them Miss Edith Dunham’s 
'Fifty Flower Friends,*"— iVJrw yorJi Times, 


**The boy or girl into whose hands this book is placed can hardly fall Lo acquire 
a real and iasUng interest in oui every day wild flowers,’* — The Diai. 


It has no rival in bodka of Ma kind, either in text or illustration,"— 
Budget, 


Ftt iy mit teotsalfart or rmt portpoid oo noo^ m 
prfeo by the pabUthora 

IflTHROP, LEE ^ SHEPARD CO., BOSTON 


LITTLE BETTY BLEW 

Her Strange Experiences and Adventures 
in Indian Land 

BY ANNIE M. BARNES 

llustrated by Frank T. Merrill i2mo Goth with gold and 
colors 300 pages Price $1.25 

O NE of the very best books with 
which to satisfy a young reader’s 
natural desire for an “ Indian story” 
is this one of little Betty Blew and 
what she saw and experienced when 
her family removed from Dorchester, 
Mass., two hundred years ago, to 
their home on the Ashley River above 
Charleston, South Carolina, Although 
Betty is but a small maid she is so 
wise and true that she charms all, and 
there are a number of characters who 
will interest boys as well as girls, and 
old as well as young. 

There are many Indians who figure most importantly in many 
exciting scenes, but the book, though a splendid “ Indian story,” 
IS far more than that. It is an unusually entertaining tale of the 
making of a portion of our country, with plenty of information 
as well as incident to commend it, and the account of a delight- 
ful family life in the brave old times. It is good to notice that 
this story is to be the first of a colonial series, which will surely 
be a favorite with children and their parents, Mr. Merrill’s 
illustrations are of unusual excellence, even for that gifted artist, 
and the binding is rich and beautiful. 



For soli ^ €tU booksellers t or sent prepaid on roeeipt op price 
ike publishen'^ 

Lothrop, Lee Shepard Co.* Boston 




JLBW ^ a Oousmia 
Sears Jiao 

BplHflwainr X (towsTocK j^ioo 

Rofllsely illu^ated w!tK Ml-page draw- 
ings and chapter headings by Georgb 
Varian 

r ‘ will at once be understood ih&t the 
“ boy ** of the story is Alfred the Great 
in his youth, but it cannot be understood 
how delightful a story this is until it is see^ 
and read. The spiendid pictures of George 
Varian make this book superior among 
juveniles. 


► ' **Notaboy lives who will not enjoy this book thoroughly. There is a good 
Seal of first-class historical information woven Into the story, but the best part of it 
is the splendid impression of times and manners it gives in old Bagland a thousand 
years Louisville Courier -Journal, 

•• Mrs. Comstock writes very appreciatively of Little Alfred, who was after, 
ward the Great, and from mighty meagre materials creates a story that hangs to. 
gether well. The illustrations for this volume are especially beautiful.** — Boston 
Home Journal, 


Q)e Story of 3oan of Jlrc eoYS mGiRi' 

By Kate E. Carpenter Illustrated by 
Amy Brooks, also from paintings, and 
with map Large i 2 mo Cloth $l.oo 

T he favorite story of Joan of Arc is here 
treated in a uniquely attractive way. 

••Aunt Kate ** tells the story of Joan of Arc 
to Master Harold, aged li,and to Misses 
Bessie and Marjorie, aged ic and 8, respec- 
tively, to their intense delight. They look 
up places on the map, and have a fine time 
^whiie healing the thrilling story, told in such 
Simple language that they can readily under- 
stand it all. Parents and teachers Mali also 
be greatjy interested in this book from an 
Wu^tional point of v ew» ^ ^ , 

**Thetalei3 well told and thechildren will delight in it.’’— /bdL" ' 

*'loldsosimply and clearly that young readers cannot fail to be entertaiaid 
ttDd instructed.** — Congregationalist^ Boston, 

for sale fag? eU bookseUera^og sent^ j^stpaid oa receipt ef price 

LOTHROP. 'leb & snepARO CO.. Boston 



HOnE ENTERTAINING 

What to Do, and How to Do It 

Edited by WILLIAH E. CHENERY 

12mo Cloth Price, Net, $.75 Postpaid, $.85 

*^1118 book is the product of years of study 
and the practical trying-out of every con- 
ceivable form of indoor entertainment. All the 
games, tricks, puzzles, and rainy-day and social- 
evening diversions have been practised by the 
editor; many are original with him, and many 
that are of course not original have been greatly 
improved by his intelligence. All are told in the 
plainest possible way, and with excellent taste. 
The book is well arranged and finely printed. At 
a low price it places within the reach of all the 
very best of bright and jolly means of making 
heme what it ought to be — ^the best piace for a good time by those of all 
ages. 

*‘Tbe book is bright and up to date, full of cheer and sunshine. A g^ood 
holiday book.”— Telescope^ Dayton, Ohio, 

** For those who want new p-ames for the home this book supplies the ve^ best 
—good, clean, hearty ganaes, full of fun and the spirit of laughte*-,”— iV. T. Times, 

“Altogether the book is a perfect treasure-house for the young people’s rainy 
day or social evening .” — New Bedford Standard, 

** The arrangement is excellent and the instructions so simple that a child may 
follow them. A book like this is just the thing for social evenings.’*— CAris/zaif 
Endeavor World. 

“ A book giving the best, cleanest and brightest games and tricks for home 
entertaining ,” — Syracuse Herald, 

’The book is clearly written and should prove of value to every young man 
who aspires to be the life of the paxty,**— ‘Baltimore Sun, 

“ Only good, bright, clean games and tricks appeal to Mr. Chenery, and he 
has told in Qie simplest and most comprehensive manner how to get up ‘ amuse- 
inents for every one,’ *^—fiavt/ord Courunt, 



Por Bale byaJl botikseilen or seat on receipt ofpoetpaU 
price by the publishers 

LOTHROP- LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON 


MOTHER TUCKER’S SEVEW 

By ANGELINA W. WRAY 

Illustrated by Elizabeth WlthlngtoiF 
Lar^e 12ino Cloth $1.25 

H ere is a story that appeals to one in- 
stantly and which contains the same ele- 
ments thar have made the famous Pepper 
Books” the success that they are, the merry, 
active life of a loving family forced to find 
pleasure in most economical ways, but never 
letting it prevent very great happiness in each 
other, and the resolute overcoming of obsta- 
cles. “Mother Tucker” is the refined, deli- 
cate widow of a country clergyman who has 
lost his life in an act of heroism, and the seven 
children are of varying ages, but all are busy 
and cheery. How the boys plan to earn money, 
how love for her own family proves stronger 
than the attraction of wealth to pretty Molly, 
and what even little Martha can do, must be read to be appreciated, 
and one need not be ashamed of wet eyes when “ Merry ” wins a prize 
on a piece written in secret by her kind oldest sister. They deserve 
every bit of the good fortune that comes to them. 

" It is a good, healthy story, and breathes a cheery optimism which may 
bring courage to others who are similarly circumstanced .** — Springfield 
Republican. 



“ The book is full of the wholesome every .day matters of a poor family, 
beautified by an unvarying spirit of bravery and cheerfulness .**— Tork 
Times. 


** This is an appealing story of real merit and those elements of life which 
are bound to win, not only popularity for the author, but also esteem and sue* 
cess for those who are influenced by it .** — Religious 2'elescope^ Dayton^ O. 


For sale by aU booksellers^ or sent postpaid oa receipt oi 
price by the pitblisbers 

LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., Boston 


THE 


FAMOUS PEPPER BOOKS 

By Margaret Sidney 

IH ORDER OF PUBLICATION 
Cloth xamo Illustrated $1.50 each 


Five Little Peppers and How they Grew. 

This was an instantaneous success; it has become a genuine child classic. 

Five Little Peppers Midway. 

•*A perfect Cheeryble of n. book.**— Boston Herald, 

Five N Little Peppers Grown Up. 

This shows the Five Little Peppers as “ grown no,** with all the 
struggles and successes of young manhood and womanho<^ 

Phronsie Pepper. 

It Is the story of Phronsie, the youngest and dearest of ail the Pepper s . 

The Stories Polly Pepper Told. 

Wherever there exists a child or a ” grown-up,” there will be a welcome 
for these charming and delightful ** Stories Polly Pepper told.”] 

The Adventures of Joel Pepper. 

As bright and just as certain to be a child’s favorite as the others in the 
famous series. Harum.scarum 'Joey” is lovable. 

Five Little Peppers Abroad. 

The "Peppers Abroad” adds another most delightful book to this 
famous series. 

Five Little Peppers at School. 

Of all the fascinating adventures and experiences of the** Peppers,** none 
will surpass those contained in this volume. 

Five Little Peppers and Their Friends. 

The friends of the Peppers are legion and the number will be further 
increased by this book. 

Ben Pepper. 

This story centres about Ben, ” the quiet, steady^-a.rockboy,” while the 
rest of the Peppers help to make it as bright and pleasing as its predeces. 
sors. 

Five Little Peppers in the Little Brown House. 

Here they all are, Ben, Polly, Joel, Phronsie, and David, in the loved 
” Little Brown House,” with such happenings crowding one upon the 
other as all children delightedly follow, and their elders find no less 
interesting. 


LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., Boston 


NEXT-NIQHT STORIES 

By CLARBNCB JOHNSON MBSSBR 

Illustrated by L« J* Bridgman 12mo Cloth 
Decorated Cover Pricef Net» $1.00 Postpaid, $1.10 

A MASTER hand at telling “animal stories” 
^ holds the attention c! four bright children 
so successfully that the demand for a “next- 
night story ’* cannot be denied, and twelve of 
the finest stories since “Uncle Remus” and 
Hans Christian Andersen are in this book. By 
endowing animals with speech and causing them 
to show human emotions, rich entertainment is 
furnished, and an excellent lesson of kindness 
and duty — not too prominent — is plain to see in 
each night’s fascinating disclosure. The stories 
in their order are: The Proud and Foolish 
Pe$icock; T’uklebell; The Donkey and the Wolf; The Fox, the Raccoon, 
and th':> Blsx.; The Dwarfs; The Frog Girl; Granny Chipmunk’s Lesson; 
TheH orsc ca:d the Hea; Dandy Beaver and Sippy Woodchuck; Sambo 
and Jerry; 'ilie Bird of Prey; The Hen 'T'hat Ran Away. Children will 
be 'ha. mod rjuu grown-ups will not only be glad of such fine material fer 
captivating young listeners, but will themselves be interested in the skill- 
fully -told tales and in the pretty, humorous connecting thread of incidents 
that made the stories possible and had such a happy ending. 

** When confrorted by the tel’ me4i.«tory challenge for a hundredth time these 
tales will prove a boon by replenishing your exhausted supply. They are models 
of their hind.”— CAriWajB World, Cleveland, 

** Children will be charmed, and even grown-ups cannot help being interested in 
the skilliully-told tales.” — Afilwaukee Free Press, 

**N£XT-N1GHT STORIES are the kind that please as well as teach the ever 
useful lesson of kindness to dumb creatures.”— Commercial, 

** One need not fear lest this volume will find willing listeners; the difficulty 
will be to limit them to a single story a night .” — P oy Record, 



Por sal0 by all bookasilen or seat oa raoelpt ot postpaid 
price by tbs pubiisbers 

LOTHROP, LEE Sa SHEPARD CO., BOSTON 



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